N.B. scientist to study potato blight in Peru
Hopes research in birthplace of tuber will help Canadian farmers
Last Updated: Thursday, April 22, 2010 | 10:20 PM AT
CBC News
A New Brunswick potato scientist will travel to Peru this month in an effort to help Canadian tubers fight blight.
Dr. David De Koeyer, who works at the Potato Research Centre in Fredericton, has spent his professional life studying spuds.
He's heading to the vegetable's birthplace in South America to visit the International Potato Centre in Lima, the Peruvian capital.
De Koeyer will have 11 months to complete his research among the world's biggest collection of living potato tissue.
He hopes that among the 2,000 varieties he'll have access to, he'll find some wild potatoes with genes that are resistant to late blight.
The disease, which rots potatoes in the field, can cause catastrophic crop failure. It struck Ireland in the 1840s, leading to a potato famine that contributed to the deaths of up to one million people.
The knowledge De Koeyer acquires could eventually bring new, blight-resistant potato plants to Maritime fields.
"Peru and the Andes Region of South America is the home of the potato and related wild species," he said Wednesday.
"I hope to learn more about the genes that are involved in resistance for diseases and pests as well as genes that are involved in improved quality."
De Koeyer hopes to find a couple of strains that could be grown into plants at the Potato Research Centre.
From there, they could be tested in the centre's experimental field.
Genetic resistance to blight would save huge amounts of money now spent on chemicals used to prevent the disease.
Share Tools
Latest New Brunswick News Headlines
- Budworm outbreak poses $1B threat to N.B. forests
- Forest scientists are warning a bug that first troubled New Brunswick forests 40 years ago is on the brink of another outbreak. more »
- New potato targets diabetics, dieters
- Potato breeders in New Brunswick are creating a tuber to help diabetics and dieters. more »
- Pension trustee takes stand in defamation suit
- A high-profile lawsuit against a former Saint John city councillor over allegedly defamatory comments he made about the city's pension board continued Wednesday with a former long-time city financial officer and board member on the stand. more »
- Half of Canadians report being bullied as youth
- Half of Canadian adults polled say they were bullied as children or teenagers — and 62 per cent of those bullied say having an adult mentor would have helped them cope. more »
Top News Headlines
- Tories move to curb 'bogus' refugees
- The Conservative government is poised to change the refugee system yet again in an attempt to deter what it considers "bogus" claimants, CBC News has learned. more »
- Children of immigrants challenged at school, home
- By 2016, foreign-born youth and Canadian-born youth from immigrant families will make up a quarter of the country's population, according to predictions by the Canadian Council on Social Development. As their numbers grow, more attention is being paid to their successes and failures. more »
- 2 NDP MPs back final Commons vote to kill gun registry
- Two NDP MPs broke party ranks to vote with the government in the final House of Commons vote on scrapping the long-gun registry. more »
- B.C. house party trial hears from tearful teens
- Two teenagers cried as they testified at the trial of a B.C. woman who was charged after a teen died while her son was hosting a party at her house in 2008. more »
- Bodyguard hired for bully victim in Fredericton
- Police tight-lipped on suspicious hospital death
- Fredericton Police warn of bank scam
- Special needs cats hold Valentine's Day Skype date
- Police ID body found on Kingston Peninsula
- Saint John mulls cutting pension guarantees
- Parking shortage at Moncton Hospital
- CUPE questions Horizon's use of parking funds
- SWN may get frosty reception, says mayor
