Jun 20, 2016New changes for certification of Maine seed potatoes
A new rule change effective May 29 for Chapter 252, 7 M.R.S.A. Chapter 401, §§ 2101-2105; 7M.R.S.A. Chapter 1 §12; and 7 M.R.S.A. Chapter 411, §2352 came about from input from the Executive Seed Council of the Maine Potato Board and other industry members in order to address crop losses from the potato disease Blackleg in the 2014 and 2015 growing seasons in Maine and other states that import Maine seed potatoes for the commercial market.
The changes, including adding a tolerance and third field reading for Blackleg, were added since the department did not have the authority to regulate this disease under the current Chapter 252 rules.
Other changes including eliminating field year 6 (FY6) generation potatoes from recertification were done to flush out seed more quickly, as seed borne Blackleg tends to increase as the seed generations.
Potato disease Y or (PVY) continues to challenge seed growers and affect commercial potato production with reduced crop yields. Phasing out the Florida post-harvest test which is a visual field test used to identify seed lots for virus and replacing it with a laboratory test in the department’s certification lab will produce better, more consistent results for the industry.
For the 2016 growing season the latent varieties along with field year 1 and 2 post-harvest tests for virus will be performed in the department’s laboratory in Presque Isle. Field year 3, 4 and 5 will be planted in Florida as in past years with the plan to transition to laboratory virus testing for the 2017 crop.
Source: Maine Potato Board
