Effect of plant genotype, virus isolate and temperature on the expression of the potato tuber necrotic ringspot disease (PTNRD)

The present study shows that a large range of potato cultivars (29/33 tested), widely grown in the world, are susceptible to potato tuber necrotic ringspot disease caused by potato virus Y. The three factors studied in this work, which proved to influence the level of tuber necrosis reaction, were, first, the plant genotype, since varietal behaviour exhibited large differences; second, the virus genotype, since variations of virulence occurred between the four isolates tested; and third, the environmental conditions, as shown by the different rates of tuber necrosis obtained under contrasting conditions of temperature as much during the growing period as during storage. Three of the cultivars tested, Spunta, Maris Piper and Thalassa, failed to produce necrotic tubers, although infected with a virulent tuber-necrosing isolate. This result, following observations on the inheritance of the tuber necrosis trait, suggests that at least a major dominant gene controls this reaction in non-sensitive cultivars. On the other hand, the extreme resistance genes ( Ry ) provide a good resistance to virus infection, thus, preventing tuber necrosis under field conditions.