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Potatoes

Contacts - Potato Branch

Potato Branch address: Potato Branch, SASA, Roddinglaw Road, Edinburgh, EH12 9FJ

Head of Potato Branch

Dr John Kerr - see also Staff Directory page
Tel: +44(0)131 244 8945
Email: John.Kerr@sasa.gsi.gov.uk

Ware Potatoes

In order to protect the overall health of all potatoes grown in Scotland ware potato production must meet minimum quality standard monitored and verified by the Scottish Government.

Scotland is a “Community Grade Region” for seed potatoes.  This status requires that all potatoes planted in Scotland must be Basic category seed.

Pre-basic or Basic category seed (Scottish classes PB, SE, E or A).  Seed bought in from the EU member states must carry a community grade on the label (EC1, EC2 or EC3) in addition to the category and class information.

Nuclear Stock

The Seed Potatoes (Scotland) Regulations 2000 requires that seed stocks derived in Scotland must originate from nuclear stock (in vitro pathogen tested microplants) produced by SASA. This ensures that the starting material is pathogen-free according to a programme of official testing for indigenous and EU-quarantine pathogens.

PCN Resistance Testing

The 2007 EU PCN Directive requires Member States of the EU to submit annually a list of all new potato varieties which have found to be resistant to PCN by official testing.  Until 2010, all cultivars of potato entered for the UK National List VCU (Value for Cultivation and Use) trials have been tested for resistance to the dominant pathotypes of PCN occurring in the UK. Under the new Directive all official testing for resistance will be harmonised, including assessing resistance by a common scoring system based on a 1 to 9 scale.

Potato Cyst Nematodes (PCN)

World-wide Distribution

Nematology

The Nematology Laboratory at SASA provides technical support through the detection and identification of plant-parasitic nematodes (eelworms). Our work of the Laboratory supports the Scottish Government's Plant Health Service in the implementation of the plant health regulations and through meeting the requirements of the Seed Potato Classification Scheme (SPCS). The Scottish potato industry benefits from the production of seed potatoes that meet high standards of plant health, minimising the loss of quality and yield that these pests can cause.

Tuber Diseases

SASA has a wide range of expertise in fungal disease diagnosis and epidemiology and has considerable experience in development work on a range of diseases.

Services include:

Disease Testing

Detection and identification of a range of potato pathogens is carried out at SASA, mainly in support of plant health regulations and the SPCS.
 
Testing to the same standard is also carried out on a commercial basis. Main categories of testing include:

Virus testing in support of growing crop inspections

Bacteriology in support of the SPCS and Plant Health.

SPCS Disclosure Statement

Handling procedures for information received in relation to the classification of seed potatoes have been designed to take into account legislative developments, particularly the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002, the Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004 and the Data Protection Act 1998.  Applicants should be aware that from the growing season 2007 onwards it is the Certifying Authority's intention to publish details of all crops in the Register of Pre-basic and Basic Seed Potato Crops.  The following statement will now appear on the relevant forms "The C

Scottish Seed Potato Register

 

Register of Pre-Basic and Basic Scottish Seed Potato Crops

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