Seminole: A new variety of potato combining good chipping characteristics with good field performance in Alabama,Florida, and North Carolina

Seminole (FL282 or B4469-7) is a new potato variety, named and released by the Research and Farm Departments of Frito-Lay, Inc. Its medium-early tubers are round to oblong with smooth, light cream-buff skin color. The eyes are shallow and pink. It was selected on the Research Farm, Rhinelander, Wisconsin from family line B4469, one of 399 family lines received from the National Potato Breeding Program, Beltsville, Maryland. Tested for its reaction to Verticillium wilt, it was one of the most resistant among 1,190 seedlings. It proved superior to many named and numbered varieties in specific gravity and chip color. In Alabama, Seminole produced relatively high yields of tubers with unusually high specific gravity. Tests in Florida and North Carolina gave similar results. In the South, Seminole is usually 7–10 days earlier than Sebago, and produces higher yields of tubers with higher specific gravity. Unlike Sebago, its tubers separate readily from the vines preventing losses in mechanical harvesting.     

A methodology to detect and quantify five pathogens causing potato tuber decay using real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction

ABSTRACT Late blight (Phytophthora infestans), pink rot (Phytophthora erythroseptica), leak (Pythium ultimum), dry rot (Fusarium sambucinum), and soft rot (Erwinia carotovora subsp. carotovora and subsp. atroseptica) are particularly damaging diseases of stored potato tubers worldwide. In this study, we present a methodology to detect and quantify the causal agents of the five aforementioned diseases from whole potato tubers, using real-time quantitative-polymerase chain reaction. Six primer pairs were designed to amplify targets smaller than 150-bp DNA in single copy protein-coding gene targets of each of the pathogens and the potato host. Using a large collection of pure culture DNA samples, all primer pairs specifically detected the DNA target in the intended pathogenic species. Amplification efficiencies over a five-log dilution series ranged between 95 and 100% and were unaffected by the presence of large amounts of host DNA. The detection level of the primers reached 0.5 pg of target DNA. Pathogens were detected in 100 pg of total DNA extracted from 170 to 250 g of tubers, 4 days after inoculation, regardless of the presence of symptoms. The presence of P. erythroseptica, Pythium ultimum, or E. carotovora was also detected in 1 ng of DNA extracted from potato tubers collected from a commercial storage facility. This study provides the first step in a methodology to predict the storability of potato tubers following harvest.     

Automated fluorometric determination of thiamine and riboflavin in infant formulas.

Commercial infant formulas were analyzed simultaneously for thiamine and riboflavin by an automated fluorometric method and by the AOAC manual fluorometric methods. For 10 products, the mean thiamine and riboflavin results determined using the automated method ranged from 104 to 113% and 90 to 112%, respectively, of those by the AOAC manual methods. The coefficients of variation for thiamine and riboflavin ranged from 1.05 to 3.90% and 0.60 to 2.48%, respectively, for the automated methods, and 1.48 to 3.86% and 0.69 to 10.9%, respectively, for the manual methods. Using the automated method, mean recoveries of thiamine and riboflavin added to samples were 103 and 104%, respectively. The automated method used a common sample preparation to determine both thiamine and riboflavin, and gave results equivalent to, or better than, those obtained by the manual methods.