THE challenges presented this season by Potato Leafroll Virus (PLRV) were hotly debated at a recent Potatoes In Practice seminar, when a panel covering different areas of the supply chain discussed the onset of Leafroll and other viruses making their presence felt.
Milder winters have caused aphids, the primary vector for the virus to fly up to three weeks earlier than average, elevating virus risks. Over the past eight years, this has led to recorded incidents in the UK increasingly dramatically.
Chairman of the Potato Sub-Committee for the Scottish Society for Crop Research (SSCR), Andy Steven, chaired the seminar session whose panellists included Alistair Melrose, Commercial Director of Perth-based J&E seed potato grower Smillie Potatoes and and past president of BPTA; Ryan Torrie, General Manager at Aberdeenshire seed growing company J.S. Cruickshank and Vice Chairman of PB Growers Association; and Jamie Harrison, Director of Norfolk family growing company E G Harrison & Co and HDF Farming Ltd.
Andy urged people to sign up to the ‘Six Steps of Virus Control’, an integrated management strategy developed by the Scottish Aphid-borne Virus Working Group and promoted by GB Potatoes that is used in UK potato growing to prevent crop degradation from aphid-vectored viruses like Potato Virus Y (PVY) and Potato Leaf Roll Virus (PLRV).
Its aim is to get growers and people involved throughout the chain in a discussion about the virus and the challenges the industry is now facing, he explained.
“The targets are changing,” Andy said, stressing that mosaic, a specific class of foliar symptoms caused by viral infections, is back and there is PVY in crops.
“It’s not just one virus we’ve got to deal with. It applies to them all,” he said.
You can read what the panellists had to say in the next issue of British Potato Review. Sign up to receive a copy or look out for the latest digital issue on our home page.
