Montcalm Field Day and Research Committee Meeting

Join MPIC and Michigan State University researchers for the 2021 Montcalm Field Day. This annual event provides potato growers and industry professionals with a hands-on opportunity to learn about the latest in potato research and how it affects your operation. Lunch will be provided. 

Sessions include the following topic areas:

Climate Resilience in Potatoes

Increasing the resilience of potato production to combat climate change. (Dr. Dave Douches)

• Objective: Conduct field and storage studies that benchmark elite cultivars under variable climate conditions (water, temperature).  There is a need to perform field studies that assess the impact of abiotic stress on not only potato production but also storage.  At MSU, we have the infrastructure and storage capacity at the Montcalm Research Center (MRC) to conduct the field studies and monitor potatoes over the 9-month storage season. Field trials for water and heat stress are being conducted to (1) assess the impact of water management and extreme temperature stress on tuber yield and processing quality of current elite potato varieties and (2) benchmark new potato varieties with commercial standard varieties.

Tools to manage nutrient utilization and reduce environmental impacts of fertilizer leaching. (Dr. Kurt Steinke)

Effective nutrient utilization is not only a sound agronomic investment but also environmentally responsible and a key component in moving towards more durable, resilient agroecosystems. However just as soil variability will differentially affect nutrient fate and movement, climate variability also creates uncertainty with regards to both nutrients already applied and future applications. Some key points to remember during times of stress and uncertainty:

• Start Right to Finish Well! Early-season nutrient management can play a large role in how plants respond to mid- to late-season environmental stress. Weather, no matter how wet or dry, impacts both nutrient supply and demand.
• When it rains it pours. Unfortunately as luck would have it these events often seem to coincide with many growers field applications. Uncertainties with nitrogen responses are primarily affected by weather factors and not crop management. Thus have an idea on how much actual infiltration takes place from large rainfall events to help determine whether nitrogen may truly be lost or may eventually be found by the plant.
• Understand the form of nutrient applied and the timing of application. With both phosphorus and potassium being less mobile in the soil, plants need sufficient surface roots to absorb these nutrients from either fertigation or previous soil applications. Most fertilizer nitrogen is either applied as ammonium (NH4+) or becomes ammonium in the soil. In many instances, these N sources need conversion to nitrate (NO3-) before losses occur. Despite NH4+ converting to NO3- , nitrate doesn’t move by itself thus better understanding of your fertilizer composition, soil temperatures, and water management can help determine the need for further applications.    

Improving irrigation water use efficiency utilizing soil moisture sensor monitoring tools. (Dr. Younsuk Dong and Lyndon Kelley)

• Objective: Demonstrate soil moisture sensor monitoring tools in potato fields to improve irrigation water use efficiency. Take-home point: Soil moisture monitoring can help the producer make better-informed decisions about when and how much to irrigate.
   

Current Production Season Challenges

Colorado potato beetle management impacted by symptoms of climate change. (Dr. Zsofia Szendrei)

It is important to understand the implications of climate change on insect lifecycles. For Colorado potato beetles, warmer winters can lead to greater overwintering success and warmer summers can speed up the development of generations on the crop. With warmer winters, the problems with volunteer potatoes surviving in field crops is expected to become more problematic. It is also likely that insecticide resistance will be altered with warmer summers since heat tolerance and insecticide resistance might share underlying genetics and warmer winter temperatures can lead to beetles overwintering with a healthier immune system. In addition, insecticide efficacy might be lower due to warmer temperatures facilitating the breakdown of chemicals, thus reducing beetles to sublethal doses.

Colorado potato beetles on potato volunteers in cornfields can be managed with products that are registered for use in field corn and are able to kill Colorado potato beetles. Many pyrethroid insecticides are commonly used in field corn but Colorado potato beetle populations are known to be resistant to this class of insecticides in Michigan. Some newer insecticides that could work if pyrethroids fail, are Radiant/Blackhawk and Coragen.

• Take-home: 
  • Colorado potato beetle overwintering impacted by increasing winter temperatures.
  • Impacts of climate change on insecticide resistance.

Will RNA-based insecticides get around resistance problems? (Dr. Zsofia Szendrei)

RNAi insecticides have a new mode of action that kills insects based their genes. This new group of insecticides are on the horizon, but let’s find out the latest about them for Colorado potato beetle management? There is an RNAi insecticide currently being developed for Colorado potato beetle and is under review by EPA but it is not known when it will be available to growers. This insecticide is applied as foliar sprays, can be tank-mixed with other insecticides, kills both adults and larvae, it only kills Colorado potato beetles, and becomes active when insects consumes leaf tissue that’s been treated. This technology does not prevent insecticide resistance developing in Colorado potato beetles so it will need to be used as part of an integrated pest management strategy.

• Take-home: 
  • What are RNA-based insecticides?
  • What are the advantages and disadvantages of RNA RNA-based insecticides?

Dry weather and weed management challenges. (Dr. Erin Burns)

Dry weather and weed management challenges - What do dry conditions mean for weed management? The extended dry period during planting will alter both weed emergence and performance of preemergence residual herbicides. Deciding whether plans for postemergence weed control will need to be altered is going to rely on regularly scouting fields to identify what weed species are present and the optimal time to make postemergence applications. See https://www.canr.msu.edu/news/dry-conditions-will-impact-early-season-weed-control for detailed information.

Potato Volunteer Management. (Dr. Erin Burns and Dr. Zsofia Szendrei)

Potato Volunteer Management - Volunteer potatoes can be hard to manage, we will learn about options for control and daughter tuber suppression. Results from our research demonstrate as the size of volunteer potatoes increased control decreased. When applications were made to small volunteers (<6 in) 60% of treatments resulted in one or no daughter tubers produced per plant. When applications were made to medium (6-12 in) or tall (>12 in) only 25% and 0% of treatments resulted in one or no daughter tubers produced per plant. See https://www.canr.msu.edu/news/options-for-controlling-volunteer-potatoes for detailed information.

Advancements in Potato Pathology, Nematology, and Storability

Soil health management as an essential tool to manage climate impact on potato production. (Dr. Marisol Quintanilla)

• Objective: The arising economic and environmental pressures are leading to the critical development of sustainable strategies to manage soil-borne pathogens, which can, however, be challenging. Manure-based amendments have been used mainly to aid the promotion of soil quality parameters such as porosity, aggregate stability, water retention, microbial diversity as well as improved nutrient availability through the addition of organic matter. However, results from our research have demonstrated the potential of such amendments to reduce the detrimental effects caused by the root-lesion nematode and Verticillium wilt to the potato crop productivity. Take-home: A manure-based management approach has as good potential as a chemical-based management approach. However, manure-based amendments have a variety of beneficial inputs to the soil-plant system. 

Impacts of DMN (1,4-Dimethylnapthalene) on potato storage pathogens. (Celeste Dmytryszyn and Dr. Ray Hammerschmidt)

• Objectives: Examine the effect of the sprout inhibitor 1,4-DMN on skin development in storage and on the growth of post-harvest tuber pathogens.  We will report on a multiyear study that compares skin development in Manistee, Lamoka, Pike and Snowden after intervals after treatment with 1,4-DMN, CIPC, 1,4-DMN+CIPC or left untreated. We will also present results on the inhibitory effect of 1,4-DMN on select tuber pathogens.

Current potato storage pathology research. (Dr. Jaime Willbur and Emma Schlachter)

• Objectives: 
  • Assess potato varieties and early-stage germplasm for resistance to storage pathogens.
  • Assess the efficacy of peroxyacetic acid in the management of potato storage diseases.
• Take-home:
  • Potato varieties and germplasm with storage disease resistance were identified.
  • SaniDate 5.0 was evaluated for use in storage disease management.
  • Further studies will be conducted to validate these results and improve potato storability.

Advancements in potato storage varieties “Mackinaw and Petoskey” (Chris Long)

As a chip potato grower, we believe by incorporating Mackinaw and Petoskey into your variety portfolio you will increase economic return to your operation while delivering increased raw product quality to your customers.

Mackinaw; can be used late out of the field or from season-long 46-48 °F storage, will yield better than Lamoka, has a higher specific gravity than Lamoka by 3-5 points, has similar common scab tolerance to Lamoka, has very strong PVY resistance, has few internal defects, is not as susceptible to storage breakdown as Lamoka.

Petoskey; is a common scab-resistant Snowden replacement with 3 points higher specific gravity than Snowden, great skin set and skin type, chips well out of 46-48 °F storage March through May has excellent storability, and tuber type.

This event is free of charge. The event has been approved for 3 RUP Credits either 1A, 1B or Core. CCA Credits have been requested and are pending approval.

MPIC Research Committee Meeting Agenda  - August 5, 2021

• 2 PM - Welcome, Stephanie Kipp, Research Committee Chair
• Current Issues Discussions—highlighting potential future research needs
  • Weed management
  • Insects (beetles, aphids, ect.)
  • Pathogens
  • Climate concerns-- Water Use
  • Nutrient Management
  • Storage pathology
  • On the horizon: Dehydrated products, scab resistance, high protein potatoes, unique potato products
• Determine if a template for grant requests would be helpful and what information would the committee like to see.
• Identification of Research Priorities for 2022
• Identification of Project GREEEN Priorities (limit of 5)
  
  Adjourn