Susceptibility of potato tubers to infection by <i>Phytophthora infestans</i>

Abstract

SUMMARY Phytophthora infestans infects King Edward potato tubers more readily through inoculated eyes than through lenticels, but more lenticels than eyes became infected when whole tubers were sprayed with inoculum. The resistance of lenticels but not of eyes increased as tubers aged. The spores did not infect through intact periderm. The likelihood of tubers on plants grown in pots becoming infected by sporangial suspension poured on to the soil increased the nearer the tubers were to the soil surface, the stem, or the side of the pot. Naturally infected tubers, and those sprayed with sporangial suspension, had most eyes infected at the rose end, and most lenticels infected on the middle region of the tuber. Of naturally infected tubers, on which the site of infection could be identified, most were infected through eyes at the rose end.