Issue link: http://read.uberflip.com/i/1462181
30 POTATO GROWER | APRIL 2022 DIGGIN' IN VIRUS | By Nora Olsen, Alex Karasev & Jonathan Whitworth How the industry can adjust to evolving PVY strains Changing Faces Researchers, extension personnel, and the potato industry are partnering on a four-year project to tackle the issue of viruses in the potato industry. The "Potato Virus Initiative: Developing Solutions" is a federally funded Specialty Crop Research Initiative (SCRI), multi-state research and extension-based program with the mission to develop sustainable, system-based management strategies and decisions aids. Specific focus is being placed on potato mop-top virus and potato virus Y (PVY) by enhancing diagnostic and detection methods, breeding for resistance, and creating applied solutions for direct use by the potato industry to create economical and efficient means to manage the viruses. One part of the project is directly related to PVY since the virus unfortunately continues to trouble and complicate the potato industry. Presence of the disease can be a major reason for seed lot rejection or downgrade, seriously affecting seed potato production in the U.S. (especially in the past 20 years), and occasionally affecting tuber yield SEASON O N:O N-WI NTN NE-11 N UNCLASSIFIED 2011 63% 0% 27% 8% 1% 0% 1% 2012 31% 3% 37% 13% 6% 6% 4% 2013 17% 2% 47% 21% 10% 0% 3% 2014 16% 2% 59% 6% 8% 0% 9% 2015 7% 9% 53% 24% 1% 0% 7% 2016 6% 4% 76% 12% 0% 0% 2% 2017 9% 2% 69% 18% 1% 0% 2% 2018 2% 4% 66% 26% 0% 0% 3% 2019 7% 8% 61% 24% 0% 0% 1% 2020 1% 5% 77% 17% 0% 0% 0% 2021 0% 2% 78% 20% 0% 0% 0% Prevalence of six PVY strains circulating in Washington and Oregon Columbia Basin commercial potato fields and quality of the commercial potato production. The dynamics of PVY strain abundance and composition in the Pacific Northwest were monitored as part of the federal SCRI-funded project on tuber necrotic viruses. Based on the testing of more than 10,000 foliar samples during Idaho seed certification winter grow- out evaluations and seed lot trials in Washington State, a dramatic shift in the PVY strain composition was revealed in the Pacific Northwest between 2011 and approximately 2016. During this time Foliar symptoms of PVY