An international team of researchers has released for the first time a map
that shows exactly which species of the pathogen Phytophthora infestans are
present in the potato fields of Europe. The map was drawn up last year by
the European Euroblight partnership, an alliance of research institutes and
the potato industry working together to make potato farming more
sustainable, and to find ways of containing this highly resilient potato
disease.

Staff from crop protection companies and potato growers collected a total of
795 samples, and compiled genetic 'fingerprints'. The samples were analyzed
in the James Hutton Institute in Scotland and at Wageningen UR in the
Netherlands. The results are being stored in a central depot in Aarhus
University, Denmark.

[www.wageningenur.nl]