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1. Late blight occurrence and LB severity by major production area in the country. What crops were affected (tomato, potato, others)? Disease sources (seed, cull piles, volunteer plants, soil)?

Data for 2002²

Blight appeared in potato crops very early (21 May). It was the earliest occurrence of blight in recent years. During the growing season, the weather conditions were in most regions not favourable for the development of blight. From half of June to the end of August, temperature was high and rainfall low. Generally, 2002 was not a late blight year in Poland.

2. LB impact (foliar damage, yield losses, tuber rot occurrences)?  

Data for 2002²

No tuber blight was observed at the time of harvest and after 4 weeks of storage in fungicide treated fields and untreated fields, respectively.

3. Fungicide use (amounts, types, etc.)?

Data for 2002²

42% of the applications were systemic fungicides (Tattoo C, Ridomil Gold, Sandofan M). The proportion of translaminar fungicides (Curzate M, Acrobat MZ, Pyton) was 26% whereas in 32% of the sprayings contact fungicides (Altima, Antracol, Dithane) were used.

4. Other LB control measures (resistant cultivars, forecast systems, none)?

The NegFry and Simphyt decision support systems were validated in 1999 (Wójtowicz, 2003).

Since February 21, 2003, Web-blight, an international web-based information and decision support system for potato late blight is bringing day-to-day information on the first occurrences and the development of late blight in Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland (http://www.web-blight.net) 

Resistant potato varieties cultivated: Bzura, Dunajec, Grot, Hinga, Jasia, Lawina, Meduza, Vistula. Source: Global Catalog of Late Blight Resistant Varieties: www.cipotato.org/gilb/Gilb_catalog/principal.htm

5. LB control effectiveness (fungicide or host resistance failures)?  

6. Pathogen strains (mating type, fungicide resistance, virulence factors, etc)?  

The pathogen population in 1999 (n = 150 isolates) was found to be 74% A1, 23.3%A2 and 2.7% self fertile. The mean number of virulence genes/isolate was 6.99. Of the isolates tested (n = 86) 53% were resistant to phenylamide, 42.2% were sensitive and 4.8% were intermediate (Kapsa, 2001).

7. Disease risks and/or major needs?

8. Any publications on late blight in the country?  

Kapsa J, Osowski J and Shevchuk O. 2003. Efficacy of zoxamide/mancozeb mixture against early blight (Alternaria spp.) and late blight (Phytophthora infestans) in Polish experiences. pp 85–94 in: Westerdijk C E and Schepers H T A M (eds), Proceedings of the Seventh Workshop of an European Network for development of an Integrated Control Strategy of potato late blight, 2–6, October 2002 , Pozan, Poland, PPO-Special Report no. 9. Applied Plant Research BV, Wageningen, Netherlands.

Kapsa J. 2002. Potato resistance to late blight – an important element of the protection strategy. pp 125–130 in: Westerdijk C E and Schepers H T A M (eds), Proceedings of the Sixth Workshop of an European Network for development of an Integrated Control Strategy of potato late blight, 26–30, September 2001 , Edinburgh, Scotland, PPO-Special Report no. 8. Applied Plant Research BV, Wageningen, Netherlands.

Kapsa J. 2001. Incidence of late blight (Phytophthora infestans) in potato crops and its control in Poland in 1995–1999. pp 119–216 in: Westerdijk K and Schepers H T A M (eds), Proceedings of the Workshop on the European network for development of an Integrated Control Strategy of potato late blight, 6–10 September 2000, Munich, Germany, PAV-Special Report no. 7. Applied Research for Arable Farming and Field Production of Vegetables, Lelystad, Netherlands.

Kapsa J. 2000. Structure of Phytophthora infestans populations originating from potato leaves and stems. pp 46–54 in: Schepers H (ed), Proceedings of the Workshop on the European network for development of an Integrated Control Strategy of potato late blight, 29 September – 2 October 1999, Oostende, Belgium, PAV-Special Report no. 6. Applied Research for Arable Farming and Field Production of Vegetables, Lelystad, Netherlands.

Kapsa J. 1999. Incidence and harmfulness of stem form of the potato late blight (Phytophthora infestans). pp 106–107 in in: Abstracts of conference papers, posters and demonstrations, 14^th Triennial Conference of the EAPR, 2–7 May 1999, Sorrento, Italy. Assessorato Agricoltura Regione Campania, Italy.

Kapsa J S. 1999. Experiments on stem late blight (Phytophthora infestans) control in Poland. pp 228–236 in Schepers H and Bouma E (eds), Proceedings of the Workshop on the European network for development of an Integrated Control Strategy of potato late blight, 9–13 September 1998, Uppsala, Sweden, PAV-Special Report no. 5. Applied Research for Arable Farming and Field Production of Vegetables, Lelystad, Netherlands.

Sieczka M T, Brown C R, Gawroń E, Świezyński K M and Zimnoch-Guzowska. 1999. Comparative evaluation of resistance to Phytophthora infestans and agronomic traits in potato genotypes of various origin. pp 154–155 in: Abstracts of conference papers, posters and demonstrations, 14^th Triennial Conference of the EAPR, 2–7 May 1999, Sorrento, Italy. Assessorato Agricoltura Regione Campania, Italy.

Sujkowski L S, Goodwin S B, Dyer A T and Fry W E. 1994. Increased genotypic diversity via migration and possible occurrence of sexual reproduction of Phytophthora infestans in Poland. Phytopathology 84:201–207.

Wójtowicz A. 2003. Experiences with Decision Support Systems for the late blight control under Polish climatic conditions. pp 229–234 in: Westerdijk C E and Schepers H T A M (eds), Proceedings of the Seventh Workshop of an European Network for development of an Integrated Control Strategy of potato late blight, 2–6, October 2002 , Pozan, Poland, PPO-Special Report no. 9. Applied Plant Research BV, Wageningen, Netherlands.

Zarzycka H and Sobkowiak S. 1999. Oospores of Phytophthora infestans as a new source of primary infection in Poland. pp 501–502 in in: Abstracts of conference papers, posters and demonstrations, 14^th Triennial Conference of the EAPR, 2–7 May 1999, Sorrento, Italy. Assessorato Agricoltura Regione Campania, Italy.

Zarzycka H and Sobkowiak S. 1996. Evaluation of changes in Polish population of Phytophthora infestans. pp 268–269 in: Abstracts of conference papers, poster and demonstrations, 13^th Triennial Conference of the EAPR, 14–19 July 1996, Veldhoven, The Netherlands. Wageningen, The Netherlands.

9. Is tuber blight an increasing problem?

Yes. 

Comments, additions and corrections are very welcome. Please contact us at GILB(at)cgiar.org

[2] Schepers, H T A M. 2003. The development and control of Phytophthora infestans in Europe in 2002. pp 9–22 in: Westerdijk C E and Schepers H T A M (eds), Proceedings of the Seventh Workshop of an European Network for development of an Integrated Control Strategy of potato late blight, 2–6, October 2002 , Pozan, Poland, PPO-Special Report no. 9. Applied Plant Research BV, Wageningen, Netherlands. Information regarding the late blight epidemic in 2002 in Poland provided by J. Kapsa to H. Schepers.