What does virus-free potato mean? This article explains it in detail for you
What is a virus-free potato? What characteristics do virus-free potatoes have? We also ask knowledgeable readers to help explain. Zhongdi Web has compiled the disadvantages of non-virus-free potatoes and the advantages of virus-free potatoes. The following is a detailed list for readers' reference. Disadvantages of non-virus-free potatoes: Potatoes are rich in nutrients and have a short growth period...
What is a virus-free potato? What characteristics do virus-free potatoes have? We also ask knowledgeable readers to help explainZhongdi Web has compiled the disadvantages of non-virus-free potatoes and the advantages of virus-free potatoes. The following is a detailed list for readers' reference.
Disadvantages of non-virus-free potatoes:
Potatoes are rich in nutrients, have a short growth period, high yield and great economic benefit, but in production, potatoes are susceptible to infection by many kinds of viruses, such as mild mosaic virus, streak mosaic virus, crinkle mosaic virus, leafroll virus and so on. After viruses invade potato plants, they take part in the potato's metabolism, use the potato's nutrients to replicate and multiply the virus, and accumulate generation after generation through potato tubers, causing potato plants to become dwarfed, stems to become thin and weak, leaves to lose green, curl or crinkle, and tubers to become smaller or deformed, reducing yield by 30-50%; severely diseased fields can lose 80%, and individual plots may even have a total loss.
Because there is still no chemical agent that can kill only the viruses inside the potato plant without harming the potato, the only method is to use potato shoot-tip tissue culture to remove the viruses and obtain virus-free plants and seed potatoes.
How virus-free potatoes are produced:
Because the cells of potato shoot-tip tissue divide rapidly, far faster than virus multiplication, this difference in speed forms a virus-free zone at the shoot tip. At the same time, potato shoot-tip cells have vigorous metabolism and hold an advantage in competing for the precursors used to synthesize nucleic acid molecules, making it difficult for viruses to obtain the raw materials to replicate themselves.
In addition, certain components in the potato shoot-tip meristem or in the culture medium can inhibit virus multiplication. Therefore, using potato shoot-tip tissue culture can obtain virus-free plantlets, and rapid propagation from virus-free plantlets can produce virus-free seed potatoes.
After potatoes are detoxified, they restore normal metabolic activity and fully realize their original yield-increasing potential, increasing yield by about 50% compared with non-detoxified potatoes, and high yields can be multiplied several times. This is shown by emergence 2-4 days earlier, robust plants, large, thick, dark green leaves, high photosynthetic efficiency, an increase of 50-70% in tuber number per plant, an increase of 50% in single tuber weight, well-developed roots, strong ability to absorb mineral nutrients, and relatively strong resistance to high temperature and drought.
Advantages of virus-free potatoes:
After potato varieties are detoxified, yield increases substantially and quality also improves somewhat, but the variety's resistance to viruses does not increase. Therefore, for preventing and controlling viral diseases, detoxification is not a once-and-for-all matter.
In potato production and seed propagation, if attention is not paid to preventing reinfection by viruses, yield will decline year by year. Under normal circumstances, most detoxified varieties can still maintain a relatively high yield after being planted continuously for two years and four seasons, but by the fifth season the virus accumulates in the plant to a relatively high concentration, and the plants show obvious degeneration symptoms, almost similar to before detoxification.
Therefore, in potato production, first, attention should be paid to replacing with new virus-free seed plantlets on a 2-year cycle; second, methods such as crop rotation and changing stubble, and soil disinfection, should be adopted to reduce the accumulation of virus in plants and slow the degeneration process of detoxified varieties.
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