Date of Report: July
1, 1999
Name and Address of Organization:
Cornell University, 245 Roberts Hall, Ithaca, NY 14853
Name and Title of the Contact
Person: Dr. Ronnie Coffman, Chairman Executive Committee,
Associate Dean for Research Director of Ag Expt. Station
Name and Title of Person Preparing
Report: Dr. K.V. Raman, Executive Director
Time period covered in report:
July 1, 1998 to June 30, 1999
Estimated Date
of Project Completion: December 30, 2002
________________________________________________________________
1. Progress July 1 -June 30,
1999-
Narrative description of goals met; problems; changes
made:
More than 150 years after the Irish
potato famine- in which over 1 million people died and another
1.5 million emigrated- the disease that precipitated the famine,
late blight caused by the fungal-like pathogen Phytophthora
infestans, continues to spread from its center of origin
in central Mexico, to the rest of the world. It now has a
worldwide distribution. There is also evidence that new more
virulent stains of this fungus are cutting global potato production
by 15 percent.
New strains of the late blight
pathogen continue to affect potato production in Eastern Europe,
Mexico, and the United States of America. These strains are
also important in other developing and developed nations.
Late blight not only affects food production in these
regions, but also rural employment, income and pesticide usage.
Finding a new potato with durable resistance to late blight
and developing integrated control measures is important for
feeding the world and protecting the environment. Because
of the gravity of the late blight problem in these regions,
the Cornell-Eastern Europe-Mexico (CEEM) International Collaborative
Project in Potato Late Blight Control continues to draw upon
the best talents and resources of national and international
research programs, universities, non-governmental organizations,
and the private sector to foster research and technology transfer
to control this disease.
During the 12-month
period from July 1, 1998 to June 30, 1999, significant accomplishments
were made in:
1) project implementation;
2) agreements for partnerships for research and technology transfer;
3)conferences/field days; 4) training ; 5) publications, and
6) future work.
________________________________________________________________
1.1 At Cornell, Prof. Robert L. Plaisted’s
group continues to work in the area of germplasm development.
The advanced selection NY 121 and its crosses have produced
some promising clones. Most of them are better than the variety,
Kennebec. Fourteen selections from these crosses were saved.
In the greenhouse, a late blight exposure trial was conducted.
Two clones showed resistance, and one of these was the best
clone in the field test done during the summer 1998. In the
field, 1,839 clones from six families, crosses with NY121,and
materials from Poland were evaluated. One hundred and eighty
clones were saved based on tuber type. Additional crosses
were made in 1998, including 19 that have one or both parents
resistant to late blight.
1.2 Prof. William E. Fry and his research
group have analyzed several strains of late blight pathogen
from different regions of the world. His group has also done
some pioneering work in refining forecasting models for late
blight detection, analysis of host plant resistance, and basic
studies in the biology and epidemiology of the late blight
pathogen. The development of oospore resulting from sexual
reproduction is now possible. If oospores are produced, the
soil may become a source of this pathogen, adding an entirely
new dimension to the epidemiology of P.infestans,
and the control of late blight. This work suggests that control
tactics will need to be constantly modified as new information
and technology become available. Prof. Fry&lab was also
involved in the training of several researchers from national
agricultural research programs.
1.3 Prof. Elmer Ewing’s group
mapped both qualitative and quantitative resistance to late
blight.
1.3 An R-gene for late blight resistance was detected from
S.berthaultii, a South American species. This is the first
R-gene mapped for late blight resistance not obtained from
S.demissum. In other studies, the group identified
quantitative trait loci (QTLs) in backcrosses of hybrid populations
to the cultivated S.tuberosums. QTL’s were detected
on five chromosomes– the most important one is chromosome
3. Results from this work have been accepted for publication
in the forthcoming issue of Molecular Breeding. This data
is essential for developing potato cultivars with durable
resistance to late blight.
1.4 Dr. Niklaus Grünwald, CEEM
Research Associate based in Toluca, Mexico in collaboration
with the National Institute of Agroforestry and Agricultural
Research (INIFAP), the Agroforestry, Agriculture Aquiculture
Research and Training Institute of Mexico (ICAMEX), and the
International Potato Late Blight Project (PICTIPAPA), evaluated
host resistance and fungicide forecasting as components of
integrated management. None of the three published forecast
systems was entirely appropriate for this pathosystem. The
low temperature response of the late blight pathogen needs
to be reevaluated for the highland tropics. Two Mexican potato
cultivars, Rosita and Nortena, showed high levels of resistance
to late blight. Extraction of data from field books, between
1948 and the present, located in the John Niederhauser library
at INIFAP, has been successfully completed. The data is being
analyzed for final publication. Several publications from
this work have been published. Research at this site is crucial
for developing stable integrated disease control methods.
1.5 CEEM, INIFAP, ICAMEX, and PICTIPAPA
are working in partnership to promote the use of the Toluca
Valley in Mexico as the place of choice to test genetic resistance
to late blight. This site is unique as it provides a natural
environment for the two mating types of the fungus; all known
pathogenic races are present every year, and the climate is
ideal for disease development. Over 4,000 genotypes from the
United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and other collaborators
at Aberdeen, Idaho, Madison, Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin, and
Frito Lay, were evaluated by INIFAP, ICAMEX, and PICTIPAPA.
Promising clones will be further field tested by the Mexican
national programs for eventual release.
1.6 In Poland, Dr. Ewa Zimnoch-Guzowska
and co-workers continue to make progress in the identification
of potatoes resistant to new strains of late blight. This
group is also collaborating with Russian scientists to enhance
late blight resistance. Polish materials continue to be exchanged
and evaluated in breeding programs in the United States of
America, Mexico, and Poland. Research to map genetic factors
responsible for tuber resistance is a high priority. Resistance
of tubers to blight has been assessed in tuber slices derived
from many families. Some promising selections have been made.
More work to refine selection and screening methods is underway.
Several Russian scientists have been trained at the Mlochow
Research Center in Poland.
1.7 Researchers from the N.I.Vavilov
Research Institute of Plant Industry (VIR), the world’s
oldest plant genetic resources institute which holds one of
the largest known plant germplasm collections, worked with
Polish researchers at the Mlochow Research Center in Poland
to rescue important wild species for future use in potato
breeding. Dr. Nadezda Zateyeva, curator of the wild species
collection at VIR, field multiplied several important potato
wild species and tested them for the viroid PSTVd, and late
blight resistance. Through bulk pollination, she harvested
true seeds from 46 accessions. Part of these samples will
be sent to USDA’s potato gene bank at Sturgeon Bay,
Wisconsin, and another part to VIR-Russia. This work provides
new previously unavailable materials for use by breeders to
develop late blight resistant varieties.
1.8 Russian researchers
in collaboration with Prof. Fry’s group continue to study
the population structure of the late blight pathogen from the
Moscow region, Siberia, and the Far East of Russia. Three hundred
and forty isolates were analyzed on allozyme systems of Peptidase
and Glucose-6-phosphate isomerase. In the Russian territory,
two types of populations: Siberian and Moscow types have been
identified. The Siberian type occurs in regions where farmers
use one potato cultivar for long periods of time, and where
potato fields are more prevalent than tomatoes. The Moscow type
populations are typical to regions with intensive cultivar exchange
with other territories, like Moscow and Vladivostok. Such studies
are essential to monitoring shifts in population so that effective
integrated control measures can be developed and recommended
to farmers.
________________________________________________________________
1.9 CEEM worked with the International
Agriculture Program (IAP) at Cornell to finalize a partnership
agreement with the Indian Council for Agricultural Research
(ICAR) for collaboration in Potato Late Blight and other areas
of mutual interest. CEEM also finalized the details to co-sponsor,
with the Central Potato Research Institute (CPRI-ICAR) in
India, a special scientific symposium on Potato Late Blight
as part of the World Conference on Potato to be held on December
1999, Delhi, India. Several CEEM collaborators will participate.
1.10 A revised agreement between CEEM
and ICAMEX was signed on May 24, 1999, for continued use of
the office, laboratory, greenhouse, and field facilities at
the Toluca site.
1.11 An agreement with IHAR-Poland
for continued use of their facilities to promote research
and technology transfer in Eastern Europe has been renewed.
Dr. Guzowska, a key collaborator, has been awarded an Adjunct
Professor status in the Department of Plant Pathology, Cornell
University. This arrangement helps both CEEM and the IAP to
further promote work.
1.12 An agreement with VIR-Russia for
donation of computers, printers and essential laboratory supplies
for use in the potato program was finalized. These materials
are now in use by VIR-Russia.
1.13 A new agreement with the United
States Department of Agriculture-Foreign Agricultural Service
(USDA-FAS) for evaluation of selected potato clones for three
years (1999-2001) at the Toluca site, in collaboration with
INIFAP, PICTIPAPA and CEEM, will be finalized before the end
of the year.
1.14 Dr. Luis Sequeira, Chairman of
PICTIPAPA, has been appointed by President Clinton as a member
of the National Science Board. This appointment should further
promote collaboration in the late blight area.
1.15 Appointment of
Miguelina Tabar as the new Executive Staff Associate to fill
the position of Richard Tenney, who retired December 1998, was
finalized.
1.16 The Department of Plant Breeding
at Cornell University has approved the hiring of a new potato
breeder position at the Assistant Professor level. This position
will further complement and strengthen existing and future
work on late blight. The position will be
filled soon.
1.17 An additional
staff member will be hired as a post-doctoral plant pathologist
to be located in Toluca, Mexico during 1999-2000. Agreements
to locate him at this site will be finalized after the identification
of the candidate.
________________________________________________________________
1.18 In Poland, a conference
on "Potato Breeding with Special Attention to Resistance
Against Viruses and Phytophthora Infestans," (Appendix
10A) organized by the Plant Breeding and Acclimatization Institute
with support from CEEM, provided an opportunity to participants
from Poland and Russia to acquire new information, and develop
linkages for further work in high priority areas. This workshop
was followed by an "International Field Day on Potato Improvement
in Poland" (Appendix 10B). Eighty persons from 16 countries
attended the Field Day. Following the field day activities in
Poland, 31 participants traveled to St. Petersburg, Russia to
review work on late blight and varietal development.
1.19 CEEM researchers and summer interns
from Cornell located at Toluca, Mexico participated in the
"Second International Potato Symposium" and the
"Eighth National Congress of Potato Growers" held
13-15 August, 1998, Toluca, Mexico. Three papers focusing
on late blight forecasting systems, epidemiology, and pathogen
genetic structure were presented. The CEEM Research Associate
based in Mexico also presented his research in the annual
meetings of the American Phytopathology Society, during 8-12
November, 1998.
1.20 CEEM participated
in the "Twelfth Toyota Conference: Challenge of Plant and
Agricultural Sciences to the Crisis of Biosphere on the Earth
in the Twenty first Century," 25-28 November, 1998, Mikkabi,
Japan. CEEM also participated in the conference entitled, "Late
Blight: A Threat to Global Food Security," 16-19 March,
1999, Quito, Ecuador, organized by the Global Initiative on
Late Blight (GILB). At these conferences, several lead papers
were presented in the area of epidemiology and disease development.
________________________________________________________________
1.21 A workshop was
held on 2 -3 February, 1999 in Toluca, Mexico at the laboratory
facilities of ICAMEX on DNA isolation/cellulose acetate electrophoresis/RFLP
fingerprinting for 8 students, at masters level, from the Universidad
Autonoma del Estado de Mexico. Knowledge on the use of these
new molecular tools will help in developing stable integrated
control methods for late blight prevention.
1.22 Two summer interns, Darcey L.
Langford and Daniel R. Walega from Cornell spent three months
(May-July, 1998) at the Toluca, Mexico site under the guidance
of the Mexico based CEEM Research Associate. This year two
additional interns: Meaghan Donavan and Elaine McElhinny will
undergo their summer training in Toluca, Mexico.
1.23 Dr. Alexei N. Smirnov from Moscow
State University (MSU) completed a six-month fellowship on
the analysis of field collected spores of late blight fungus
at Cornell, and in Toluca, Mexico. The skills obtained during
the training period will be applied in his current program
at MSU. Appendix 12. Dr. Sergey N. Elanski from MSU also received
specialized training from February -April, 1999 at Cornell
on the "Analysis of Late Blight Isolates from Siberia,
Far Eastern and Moscow Regions." Knowledge from such
studies is helping Russian programs to better understand late
blight populations.
1.24 CEEM assisted with the training
arrangements for two post-doctoral researchers, one from Mexico
and another from the Philippines to work under the supervision
of Prof. Fry. These scientists are working on epidemiology
and biology of the late blight pathogen.
1.25 Dr. Nadezda Zateyeva’s
(VIR-Russia) fellowship, to work at IHAR-Poland, has been renewed
for another 4 months. She will continue her work to rescue the
most important potato germplasm at VIR for use by the global
community. Another scientist, D. Frolova from VIR spent three
months at IHAR working on in-vitro research and potato collections.
1.26 Two one-week workshops for two
groups of seven Russian participants from VIR and from the
Potato Research Institute at Korenevo, Russia were organized
with the support of IHAR-Poland. The first workshop was held
13-20 June, 1998, with special attention in breeding for resistance
against viruses and late blight. The second workshop was held
12-19 September, 1998, with emphasis on potato production
and breeding for resistance to pathogens.
1.27 Dr. Patrick Russo, Cornell Research
Associate, conducted a one-week workshop at VIR-Russia, 17-23
March, 1999. He instructed VIR scientists the latest techniques
on virus detection and provided them with detection kits for
detecting potato viruses in VIR germplasm.
The use of these techniques facilitates the exchange of useful
germplasm.
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Publications
1.28 CEEM is co-sponsoring the publication of the manual,
Selection Methods and Techniques Applied to Breeding Research
of Potato-utilized at the Plant Breeding and Acclimatization
Institute in Poland. This is being prepared in three languages:
Polish, English, and Russian, and will consist of six chapters
with 39 protocols.
1.29 CEEM continues to update information
on its Internet home page. CEEM also supported and facilitated
the publication of scientific and other public awareness papers
at several scientific meetings, conferences, and symposia.
There was also television news (CNN) and newspaper coverage
of late blight. A special PBS show on late blight is currently
under production.
________________________________________________________________
Future Work-
Narrative description of goals to be met, anticipated results
and impact:
3.1 Please refer to the 11 points listed
in the January 1997 Grant Report for anticipated results and
impact (these have not changed).
3.2 Specific work plans, training activities,
and other research will continue within all projects in the
United States of America, Mexico, Poland, and Russia. CEEM
will continue to identify additional sources of funding to
promote research and technology transfer to reduce the problem
of late blight.
