Effects of Seedborne Potato Virus Y Infection in Two Potato Cultivars Expressing Mild Disease Symptoms

The effects of seedborne potato virus Y (PVY) in Shepody and Russet Norkotah, two new cultivars that express mild disease symptoms, were determined by comparing tuber yield and specific gravity of plants grown from PVY-infected seed with those of adjoining plants grown from virus-free seed. Seedborne PVY-infected Shepody plants produced 28.7% less total yield in 1994, and 41.1 and 47.3% less in two trials in 1995. Marketable yield was reduced 55.8 and 79.4% in 1995 trials. PVY infection did not affect specific gravity in Shepody. Seedborne PVY infections in Russet Norkotah reduced total yield by 45.5 and 48.8% in the 1994 and 1995 trials, respectively. During the 1995 trial, marketable yield from seedborne infected plants was reduced 65.1% compared with adjacent plants grown from noninfected seed. Additionally, specific gravity was lower for tubers from seedborne infected Russet Norkotah plants than from plants grown from noninfected seed in 1994. Seedborne infected plants of both varieties had fewer and smaller tubers than did plants grown from virus-free seed. No compensatory yield increase was measured for plants originating from PVY-free seed and growing adjacent to seedborne infected plants for either variety. Rather, yield reduction was observed in Russet Norkotah plants growing adjacent to seed infected plants in 1995. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) on Shepody in 1995 showed most plants grown from PVY-free seed became infected within 6 weeks of emergence.