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Phoenix666 [soylentnews.org] writes:

A research project into the development of potatoes with sustainable resistance against phytophthora via genetic modification with genes from wild potato varieties and good resistance management (DuRPh) has concluded with a scientific publication on the research results. The Wageningen UR scientists indicated that their approach was successful in developing potato plants which require 80% less chemical control.

The potato is the third food crop and offers a relatively high yield and valuable food per hectare. Global potato cultivation is, however, under threat from the pathogen Phytophthora infestans. Farmers who can afford to do so spray their crops against the pathogen with chemicals up to 15 times a year, which is both expensive and harmful to the environment. Farmers without the means for chemical control lose a large part of their yield in some years as a result of the disease.
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The scientists mapped scores of resistance genes from wild potatoes of which nearly half were 'cloned' so that they could be transformed to existing potato varieties as single genes or in sets of two or three. After the scientists had determined that they could actually make susceptible potato varieties resistant, these potato plants were then multiplied to provide sufficient potatoes for research on trial fields.

The resistant potatoes were studied in the field in various ways. In small 'monitoring plots' they also were used to study which types of phytophthora were present on the land. In larger demonstration fields, visitors from the sector and the general public could see the success of the attempt to make vulnerable potatoes resistant to phytophthora for four consecutive years.

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