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12 POTATO GROWER | NOVEMBER 2022 T he official title for the presentation was "Novel Methods to Induce Sprouting in Dormant Potato Tubers," but there were noticeable scattered chuckles when it was suggested that someone was smokin' potatoes. Regardless of which title you prefer, this unique and "novel" project by University of Idaho researchers has the potential to provide quicker information/results as seed certification agencies try to induce sprouting of dormant seed tubers planted in test plots for PVY evaluation as part of the seed certification process. Nathan Gelles, a graduate student at the University of Idaho, gave the presentation at this past summer's Potato As- sociation of America annual meeting in Missoula, MT. Other researchers on the project, all from the University of Idaho, include Nora Olsen, Mike Thornton, Alex Karasev, Lynn Woodell and Rabecka Hendricks. As was pointed out in the presentation's abstract, "Dor- mancy prevents tubers from sprouting, which creates a chal- lenge for seed certification agencies to conduct post-harvest virus testing on sprouted tubers." Gelles pointed out during his presentation that the purpose of the research is to induce sprouting to facilitate post-harvest testing for PVY, noting that the traditional method is a winter grow-out in a warmer climate. "The alternative method is direct tuber testing," Gelles said in the presentation to potato researchers from across the United States and Canada, as well as from other parts of the world. "The collection process is exactly the same as winter grow-out but instead of being treated with Rindite they're just left in this room temperature room until they start sprouting." He continued, "Once sprouting is initiated, they use a core boring device. The cores are macerated and the extract is used for PVY detection using the Idaho Crop Improvement Association's ELISA method. "In either case, actively growing tissue on the tuber is required for post-harvest testing of viruses." Looking For Alternatives Gelles then explained that these two systems are a reason University of Idaho researchers started looking for novel ways to induce sprouting. "This is a tremendous problem for the Idaho Crop Im- provement Association and other seed certification agencies since when potatoes are first harvested they're in a state of dormancy where they will not grow no matter the conditions that they're in," he said. "This dormancy can last anywhere from a couple of days to several weeks to even several months with some varieties. For this reason we are identifying novel methods to break dormancy in these potatoes to help facilitate either more accurate and reliable direct tuber testing or as an- other tool for these agencies to use for an alternative to Rin- dite to get some of these trickier varieties to break dormancy." This is where smokin' potatoes comes in. In his study, which began in 2020, Gelles has had success in using wood POTATOES POTATOES U of I researchers look for novel ways to wake up potatoes By Lane Lindstrom