Potato crop effective management strategies to tackle future pest threats

Potato is a key crop in Europe (€12.4 billion, 2020). However, it is considered vulnerable to a variety of pests and soil-borne pathogen diseases.

One of the most important pests is caused by bacteria Candidatus Liberibacter solanacearum (CLso), causing a disease known as zebra chip (ZC).

The introduction of CLso bacterium on potato is mainly linked to the presence of the vector psyllid Bactericera cockerelli (BC) causing severe damage, both in terms of yield losses and quality.

Main potato postharvest diseases as dry rot, black dot and silver scurf, are caused by soil-borne pathogens that have incidence in both field and storage. All these potential threats may result. in significant economic losses in the potato industry and food losses. The European regulatory framework for potato’s imports and production is very strict.

However, globalisation, climate change, economical drivers, as well as the political context (EU Green Deal target of 50% pesticides reduction) are threatening the entrance of emerging potato pests and the incidence of soil-borne pathogen disease in postharvest storage.

PataFEST and its 18 complementary partners, including the international cooperation with Ecuador, aims: 1) to characterise at molecular level the ecological pest spread pathway and identify potato disease resistance varieties against CLso and postharvest pathogens, 2) provide effective preharvest plant and soil treatments against CLso vector and soil-borne pathogens combined with other cutting-edge digital technologies such as image analysis tools (mobile app) and artificial intelligence predictive models; 3) develop postharvest technologies (biocontrol coating solution, controlled atmosphere storage and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) sensors) to control the incidence of soil pathogens and maintain the quality of potato tubers stored.

These strategies and technologies will be incorporated into an Integrated Pest Management approach to evaluate their performance at final TRL5.