What to Do About Potato Variety Degeneration? Detailed Prevention Measures
Potato degeneration is a common phenomenon in production, and its direct manifestations are deformed plant growth, small tubers and a sharp drop in yield, seriously affecting farmers' income. The main cause of potato degeneration is growing a single variety year after year, which leads to the gradual accumulation of viruses. So how should potato variety degeneration be prevented? Let's take a look together.
1. Choose varieties with strong disease resistance
Different potato varieties have different levels of resistance to viral diseases. Some varieties with strong disease resistance can be grown continuously for three years and still maintain a relatively high yield, but some varieties suffer a sharp yield reduction after being grown for two years. Therefore, choosing varieties with strong disease resistance is extremely critical. At the same time, when planting, attention should be paid to selecting tubers with a good appearance for seed saving, which can also appropriately extend the high-yield lifespan. In addition, attention to soil disinfection and sterilization can correspondingly increase the high-yield lifespan and delay variety degeneration.
2. Change varieties frequently
The best way to avoid potato variety degeneration is to change varieties frequently. This is the most effective method to prevent variety degeneration. When many friends buy seed potatoes, producers often suggest that they buy different varieties, but some friends think they are being deceived, believing that the cost of changing seed potatoes is worth it compared with the losses caused by production. This is a wrong idea. In production, varieties must be changed frequently, preferably once every 1-2 years.
3. Cultivate virus-free varieties
Research has found that the root tips, stem tips and other parts of the potato with strong meristematic ability do not contain viruses, and the probability of virus infection is very low. Therefore, these parts of the potato can be used for virus elimination production, and then tissue-cultured seedlings can be used for production. Such seedlings do not carry pathogens; these are virus-free seedlings.
4. Control disease occurrence
Virus infection is mainly caused by poor field disease control, which leads to more virus diseases accumulating year after year. The best way to reduce variety degeneration is to control the occurrence of disease in the field. Especially for virus infection, plants found to be infected with the virus should be pulled out in time and taken out of the field to be burned or buried deeply, and then the diseased holes should be sprayed with chemicals or treated with scattered lime to avoid the spread of the disease. If there are already signs of spread, comprehensive chemical spraying should be carried out for prevention and control, and the faster the better.
The above is an introduction to preventive measures for potato variety degeneration. I hope it can help you. To learn more related knowledge, please keep following us.