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The Problem Of “Potato Sickness”: A Report Upon Certain Experiments
Author(s) -
BUCKHURST A. S.,
FRYER J. C. F.
Publication year - 1931
Publication title -
annals of applied biology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.677
H-Index - 80
eISSN - 1744-7348
pISSN - 0003-4746
DOI - 10.1111/j.1744-7348.1931.tb02327.x
Subject(s) - biology , agronomy
S ummary . 1. A study of the causes of “potato sickness” has been made during the past two years, both in the field and by means of pot experiments. 2. The sickness does not occur in the absence of the nematode H. schachtii , but potato plants may grow normaliy even when heavily attacked by this eelworm. No correlation was found between the cyst content of the soil and the intensity of the sickness. 3. There is no reason to suspect that the fungus C. Solani plays any primary part in causing the sickness, and no other parasitic organism (apart from the eelworm) likely to be responsible for the trouble was discovered. 4. The evidence suggests that the sickness is due to an attack by the eelworm in conjunction with a soil factor that inhibits a vigorous early growth of roots; it is possible that this second factor is a nutritional defect which is not made good by the ordinary manurial measures adopted in potato‐growing districts.