Diseases

Potato Scab

Solanum tuberosum L.

A group of potato diseases caused by various pathogens, primarily affecting the tubers. It includes common, powdery, silver, skin spot, and black scurf forms, which differ in their causal agents and symptoms.

In the reference 1 000 varieties crop Potato, where this is mentioned in the description.

Potato scab encompasses five main forms of the disease: common scab, caused by the actinomycetes Streptomyces scabies; powdery scab (Spongospora subterranea); silver scurf (Helminthosporium solani); skin spot (Polyscytalum pustulans); and black scurf, or Rhizoctonia disease (Rhizoctonia solani). Lesions appear on the tubers as ulcers, pustules, spots with a metallic sheen, or growths on the roots.

In agronomic practice, cultivar resistance is assessed using a scoring scale, as specific immunity genes for scab pathogens have not been identified. Breeding efforts are focused on selecting hybrid material with high field tolerance and complex resistance to diseases under production conditions.

General information about the subject — on the page Scab.

Sources8

Varieties of Potato mentioned in the description

Selection based on the description text, not on official evaluation: these data are absent from registers. For specific variety details, please refer to its profile.