Golden nematode was first discovered in New York State in 1941 and has been successfully confined within New York as the result of a coordinated multi-institutional team approach that includes contributions from USDA’S Agricultural Research Service (ARS), Cornell University, USDA-Animal Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), the New York Department of Agriculture and Markets, and New York growers.
Quarantine and regulatory activities have played an integral role in limiting the spread of golden nematode, but it is the research component that has provided the basis for the effective management of infested areas.
The nematode research program currently directed by ARS’s Dr. Xiaohong Wang in Ithaca, N.Y., is the only program in North America that has hands-on experience and expertise in the biology, resistance breeding and management of the potato cyst nematode Globodera rostochiensis—golden nematode).
Access to resistant varieties allows continued production and international marketing of U.S. potatoes. The ARS nematode research program collaborates with the potato breeding program at Cornell University, presently headed up by Dr. Walter DeJong, as well as many other breeding programs in the country, including the University of Maine, University of Wisconsin, and the ARS breeding programs in Aberdeen, Idaho, and Beltsville, Md.
This longstanding program has contributed to the release of more than 40 golden nematode-resistant potato varieties, all of which were evaluated in the nematode quarantine facility on the Cornell University campus, the only facility in the U.S. approved by APHIS for work on the golden nematode and G. pallida pests.
New York growers have the additional benefit of Cornell’s Uihlein Farm in Lake Placid, headed up by Dr. Keith L. Perry. This farm serves the potato growers of New York State and the U.S. potato industry as a whole by supporting the development of potato varieties resistant to golden nematode.
This strong collaborative effort of developing and releasing nematode-resistant potato varieties relies heavily on the breeding program and farm trials, the nematode resistance evaluations in Cornell’s golden nematode laboratory and quarantine facility, and the production of disease-free seed on the Uihlein Farm, Lake Placid.
The quarantine facility is allowed to receive and test soil and nematode cyst samples collected by APHIS. When nematodes were identified in Idaho and Oregon, this facility provided immediate and valuable evaluation and support to those programs.
Planning is currently under way to make significant modifications to this facility to upgrade and improve its efficiency and ability to meet current federal standards. Once completed, these improvements will allow this facility to continue the 70-plus-year success story of protecting and serving the New York and U.S. potato industries.