Potato ‘Defender’ Beats Late Blight
Potato 'Defender'
‘Defender’ is a recently released potato cultivar, that while being bred specifically for the commercial grower, could become a big name both in the vegetable garden and kitchen. This potato has held the attention of United States Agricultural Services potato breeders and their university colleagues for more than a decade. These scientists were making sure, in both outdoor and laboratory tests, that this promising potato would not only be ideal for processing into perfect fries, but also would resist attack by Phytophthora infestans, the organism that causes Late Blight, one of the worst diseases of potatoes world-wide.
Scientists scrutinised the potato's performance in fields in California, Colorado, Idaho, Maine, Michigan, New Mexico, Oregon, Texas, Washington and elsewhere. French-fry processors also evaluated the potato. It was eventually released under the name ‘Defender’. Today this cultivar remains the only commercial potato in the United States to produce leaves and tubers that usually survive Late Blight. The natural resistance of ‘Defender’ potato plants allows growers and gardeners to use either no pesticides, or reduced amounts, to control Late Blight. In turn, this characteristic makes the cultivar ideal for both conventional and organic cultivation. ‘Defender’ produces high yields of long, white-skin potatoes.
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Happy Gardening
Philip
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‘Defender’ is a recently released potato cultivar, that while being bred specifically for the commercial grower, could become a big name both in the vegetable garden and kitchen. This potato has held the attention of United States Agricultural Services potato breeders and their university colleagues for more than a decade. These scientists were making sure, in both outdoor and laboratory tests, that this promising potato would not only be ideal for processing into perfect fries, but also would resist attack by Phytophthora infestans, the organism that causes Late Blight, one of the worst diseases of potatoes world-wide.
Scientists scrutinised the potato's performance in fields in California, Colorado, Idaho, Maine, Michigan, New Mexico, Oregon, Texas, Washington and elsewhere. French-fry processors also evaluated the potato. It was eventually released under the name ‘Defender’. Today this cultivar remains the only commercial potato in the United States to produce leaves and tubers that usually survive Late Blight. The natural resistance of ‘Defender’ potato plants allows growers and gardeners to use either no pesticides, or reduced amounts, to control Late Blight. In turn, this characteristic makes the cultivar ideal for both conventional and organic cultivation. ‘Defender’ produces high yields of long, white-skin potatoes.
To read more gardening news visit the News pages of the GardenMessenger web-site click here.
Happy Gardening
Philip
GardenMessenger
To join the GardenMessenger gardening community
click here.
To visit the GardenMessenger web-site
click here.
Directory of Gardening Blogs
posted by Philip Swindells | 4:40 PM
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