Content
Potatoes, like all nightshades, are the crop most susceptible to various diseases. All parts of the plant are rich in carbohydrates and water - this is an excellent breeding ground for various pathogens. Among them, potato cancer represents one of the main threats. It can destroy entire crops, causing damage to large farms. In the photo you can see potato cancer in different stages of development.
Vegetable cancer starts from the eyes
Description of potato cancer
Potato cancer is distributed throughout the globe and has been registered in more than 40 countries. In the CIS, the first case of the disease was recorded in 1935 in Ukraine. The disease is easily recognized by its appearance. With potato cancer, growths resembling cauliflower form on the tubers, stolons, and root collars. Size - from a pea to a size larger than the root vegetable itself.
The tuber's eyes and young shoots are the first to become infected. With severe damage, growths can form on the stem, flowers and leaves. The color of the new growth on the tuber underground is white.Green on stems and leaves.
When the growing season ends, the growth turns black and rots. Potato cancer does not develop at too high or low temperatures. Therefore, it is almost never found in the south and northern regions.
The most favorable temperature for the development of the disease is +16-18 °C. In the spring, when this temperature is reached, the fungal spores unfold and the pathogen begins to develop. It is a zoospore capable of active movement. Over the summer, the fungus produces up to 17 generations. Lives in soil for up to 10-15 years.
A description of bacterial potato cancer with photos and methods of treating the soil after identifying the disease will help in the fight against the disease.
The danger of potato cancer for humans
According to the latest data, cultural cancer does not pose a danger to people, since the pathogen cannot live in the human body. But the infected vegetable is not used for food. The appearance of the affected potatoes is quite unpleasant in appearance. The vegetable itself completely loses its taste. Even as cattle feed, it can only be used in boiled form, and it must be boiled for at least an hour to destroy the spores of the pathogen.
Causes
Potato cancer is a dangerous disease caused by the fungus Synchytrium endobioticum. Only about 30% of the spores survive after winter, but they are very prolific.
Under favorable conditions, the disease can quickly spread throughout the area
Causes of outbreaks of disease in potato plots:
- Infected planting material purchased at the market.
- Failure to comply with crop rotation.
- Manure from cattle fed contaminated potatoes.
- Precipitation.
- Inventory, tools, machines for mechanized cleaning and transportation.
- Growing cancer-resistant potato varieties.
Tubers and bushes with identified signs of disease must be carefully destroyed. Plants are either completely burned or buried to a depth of at least 1 m. Fungal spores in such conditions can remain viable for many years. Therefore, holes are made in remote places to prevent accidental digging or plowing of land in the area.
Symptoms of potato cancer
Of all potato diseases, canker is the most recognizable disease, but with a small lesion it is detected only when the potatoes are dug up. Main symptoms:
- On tubers. When separating planting material from the total harvest, attention is not always paid to tubers with faint tubercles and discolored spots in the affected areas. Such initial symptoms are clearly visible on root vegetables with colored skins. On ripened tubers, the growths have an uneven, very bumpy surface, first light, then dark, almost black.
- On the stolons. If they are affected, they will no longer produce tubers. However, their growth continues, and several cancerous growths appear on them, forming a chain.
- On the stems. Most often, small growths appear near the root collar. If the stem is affected only on one side, then it becomes bent during the growing season.
- On the leaves. In the sinuses, occasionally - directly on the plate.
The growths are not covered, like a tuber, with cork tissue, so they quickly collapse under the influence of moisture and other reasons. The pathogen is located in the internal tissues of the neoplasm, feeding on starch reserves. In the photo you can see what a potato tuber affected by cancer looks like inside, on a cut.
Potato cancer progresses gradually, capturing increasingly large areas of the tuber
Measures to combat potato cancer
Potato cancer is a contagious disease. If even one affected tuber is found on the site, quarantine is introduced. Agrotechnical and chemical methods are used as measures to combat the disease.
Agricultural technology
Agrotechnical measures include maintaining crop rotation on the site, using green manure, mandatory application of fertilizers, and planting cancer-resistant varieties.
Crop rotation involves growing potatoes in the same area no earlier than every 3-4 years. After it, vegetables of the Solanaceae family - sweet and bitter peppers, eggplants, tomatoes - are not planted.
In infected areas, green manure crops are sown - corn (not for food purposes), beans, peas, lupine and other legumes. Rye has a good effect in the fight against the fungus that causes potato cancer. Its roots secrete substances that prevent the spread of the disease.
The application of fertilizers, especially urea, strengthens plants and increases their immunity to bacterial diseases.
Many representatives of the nightshade family suffer from cancer, although much less frequently - physalis, wild nightshade, tomatoes, etc. You should refrain from planting these plants near potatoes.
Chemicals
The fight against potato cancer with chemicals involves treating seed tubers when purchased from unverified buyers and cultivating the soil where diseased tubers were found.
Before planting, root crops are treated with such effective preparations as Benomil 500 (aka Fundazol), a systemic fungicide, or Maxim, a fungicide for pre-sowing treatment of seed potato tubers.
Nitrofen is suitable for the infected area. It should be used only after consultation with specialists. It is advisable that they carry out the processing themselves. Per 100 sq. m of plot, about 20 liters of Nitrophen are consumed at 2% concentration. The drug belongs to a high hazard class. It is necessary to take all precautions to protect against harmful effects when working with it. No plants can be cultivated in the treated area for 2-3 years.
Preventive measures
To prevent the occurrence and spread of the disease, precautions must be taken. Potato cancer on tubers cannot be cured.
Prevention measures:
- Treat potato tubers with antifungal drugs before planting.
- Be sure to use crop rotation on the plots and not plant potatoes in one place every year.
- Do not purchase seed material in quarantine zones.
- Cattle manure from areas with quarantine restrictions is also unacceptable for use.
- Nightshade crops, as possible carriers of the disease, are not planted next to or near potatoes.
- If a quarantine zone for potato cancer has appeared nearby, for several years you need to plant only those varieties that are resistant to the disease on your plot.
The causative agent of cancer can spread even with melt water or precipitation
Potato varieties resistant to cancer
Breeders have developed potato varieties that are immune to cancer:
- Queen Anne;
Queen Anna - a very early variety with good keeping quality
- Gala;
Gala - yellow-fruited high-yielding variety
Bellarosa;
Bellarosa is a German variety with red skin and light yellow flesh.
- Colombo;
Colombo - an early variety of Dutch selection
- Manifesto;
Manifesto is a mid-early variety of Belarusian selection with pink skin
- Vega;
Vega is an early variety of German selection with light skin
- Breeze.
Breeze is a mid-early variety of Belarusian selection with light yellow flesh
You can name a number of other varieties: Lugovskoy, Zhukovsky, Bezhetsky, Nevsky, Cardinal, Prior, Lasunok, Zarevo, Pushkinets, Condor and others.
A small list does not give a complete picture of the numerous potato varieties that have a high degree of resistance to cancer.
Potato cancer even in the photo looks quite unpleasant. It is even more difficult to pick up such a tuber. And although potatoes are affected by many serious diseases that can be treated with varying degrees of success, cancer stands alone among them. Due to the fact that it was quickly recognized as a quarantine disease, it is not so widespread throughout the country.
Conclusion
Potato cancer is difficult to defeat, but everyone can prevent its occurrence. It is important not to miss the signs of the disease at the very initial stages of development and to prevent further spread of the disease.
