ARS scientists and cooperators in the eastern United States have developed a potato variety that resists the Golden Nematode.
According to an ARS news release, plant pathologist Bill Brodie in cooperation with Cornell University and Pennsylvania State University researchers developed the variety.
To be named Eva, New York and Pennsylvania Experiment Stations are releasing it. Brodie is in the ARS Plant Protection Research Laboratory at Ithaca, NY.
Eva will be available from foundation seed growers in New York, Pennsylvania and Maine. It is well adapted to growing conditions in the northeastern United States. The variety is free of internal defects and has very little hollow heart or internal necrosis.
When uncontrolled, the Golden Nematode can reduce yields by 80 percent. Currently the tiny microscopic pest is only located in New York state.