Bulletin #1094, Top 10 Potato Varieties in Maine and Their Resistances to Common Diseases

By I. Kutay Ozturk, Extension Potato Pathologist, University of Maine Cooperative Extension

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Introduction

Potato production is frequently challenged by many diseases that can affect crop yield and quality, and growers need to implement various disease management strategies to prevent disease losses. Utilizing host resistance is one of the most critical parts of an integrated disease management program. While most commercial potato varieties have some degree of susceptibility to common potato diseases, some varieties are more susceptible than others. Susceptible varieties get more severe disease symptoms, and pathogens in susceptible varieties spread the disease more efficiently. While utilizing less susceptible varieties alone is insufficient for complete disease control, selecting less susceptible varieties when applicable can reduce overall disease losses.

Varieties

The top 10 Maine potato varieties listed below were selected according to the total certified seed acreage in the State of Maine 2024 seed potato certification book.

Table 1. Total seed acreage and usage of the top 10 Maine potato varieties in 2024.

Variety	Total Certified Seed Acreage	Usage
Caribou Russet	1498	Tablestock and French fries
Russet Burbank	1183	French fries
Waneta	413	Chipping and tablestock
Lamoka	620	Chipping
Atlantic	467	Chipping
Snowden	367	Chipping
Dark Red Norland	234	Tablestock
Lehigh	206	Chipping and tablestock
Norwis	234	Chipping
Red LaSoda	114	Tablestock

Disease Resistance Profiles

Maine’s Top 10 potato varieties and their resistance levels to common potato diseases are listed below:

Late blight (Phytophthora infestans),
Early blight (Alternaria solani),
PVY mosaic and tuber necrosis with the strains PVY-O, PVY-N-Wi, PVY-NTN,
Potato leafroll virus (PLRV),
Verticillium wilt (Verticillium dahliae),
Soft rot (Dickeya and Pectobacterium spp.),
Pink rot (Phytophthora erythroseptica),
Pythium leak (Pythium spp.),
Fusarium dry rot (Fusarium spp.),
Common scab (Streptomyces spp.),
Powdery scab on tubers and root galls (Spongospora subterranea f. sp. subterranea),
Potato mop-top virus (PMTV) tuber necrosis.

Table 2: Disease Susceptibilities of Top 10 Maine Potato Varieties

	Caribou Russet	Atlantic	Russet Burbank	Waneta	Lamoka	Snowden	Dark Red Norland	Lehigh	Norwis	Red LaSoda
Late Blight	S_US-23	S_US-23	S_US-8 MS_US-23	MS_US-8 S_US-23	MS_US-8 MR_US-23	S_US-8 MS_US-23	S_US-23	S_US-8 MS_US-23	MS_US-23	S_US-23
Early Blight	S	MS	MR	MS	MS	S	S	MS	MR	MS
PVY-O Mosaic	S	MS	MS	MS	MS	MS	S	S	R/MR***	MS
PVY-N-Wi Mosaic	S	MR	MS	MS	S	MS	MR	S	R/MR***	R
PVY-N-Wi Tuber Necrosis	No	Yes	No	No	No	Yes	No	N/A	Yes	No
PVY-NTN Mosaic	S	MS	MS	MS	MS	MS	MR	S	R/MR***	MS
PVY-NTN Tuber Necrosis	No	No	No	Yes	No	No	No	N/A	No	No
PLRV	S	I	S	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	R	S
Verticillium wilt	MR	MS	MS	N/A	N/A	N/A	MR	N/A	N/A	N/A
Soft rot – Dickeya spp.*	MR	MS	MS	N/A	S	MS	MR	N/A	N/A	N/A
Soft rot – Pectobacterium spp.*	MR	S	S	N/A	S	S	MS	N/A	N/A	N/A
Pink rot	MS	MS	MS	N/A	S	MR	MS	N/A	N/A	N/A
Pythium leak	N/A	S	S	N/A	N/A	MR	S	N/A	N/A	N/A
Fusarium dry rot	MR	MS	MS	N/A	MS	MS	MS	N/A	N/A	N/A
Common scab **	MR	S	R	MR	MR	S	R	R	S	N/A
Powdery scab – Tuber scab	MR	R	R	MS	S	S	MS	MR	N/A	S
Powdery scab – Root gall	N/A	R	MR	N/A	S	MR	MS	N/A	N/A	MS
PMTV tuber necrosis	N/A	I	I	I	I	MS	S	N/A	N/A	MR

Legend:

R: Resistant, MR: Moderately Resistant, MS: Moderately Susceptible, S: Susceptible, I: Immune, N/A: No data available.

* Soft rot susceptibilities of varieties can vary depending on the bacterial species and strain causing the disease.

** Common scab can be caused by multiple species of Streptomyces, and variety resistance profiles may differ according to the common scab species (2).

*** Norwis was previously identified as field resistant (3), however, in our trials we observed leaf mosaic (all three PVY strains) and tuber necrosis (PVY-N-Wi) on Norwis plants.

Table 2 is adapted from the research article, Top 10 Potato Varieties in Maine and Their Resistances to Common Diseases. The data presented is collected from University of Maine Potato Breeding Program trials over the last few decades, disease resistance data that is publicly available, and observations from PVY demonstration plot in 2024 at the Aroostook Research Farm in Presque Isle, Maine.

References

¹Ozturk, I.K., Andrade, M.H.M.L., Hao, J., Qu, X., Porter, G.A. (2024). Top 10 Potato Varieties in Maine and Their Resistances to Common Diseases. American Journal of Potato Research. Under review. Preprint available on Research Square

²Clarke, C.R., Kramer, C.G., Kotha, R.R., Wanner, L.A., Luthria, D.L. and Kramer, M. 2019. Cultivar resistance to common scab disease of potato is dependent on the pathogen species. Phytopathology 109: 1544-1554.

³Cipar, M. S., Hunter, D., Porter, P., and Henderson, G. 1990. Norwis: A new potato variety combining chipping quality, wide adaptation, disease resistance, and high yield. American Potato Journal 67: 371-379.

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