Beginning in 2012, seed potatoes in Washington State were associated with an outbreak of Potato virus Y (PVY), one of the oldest known plant viruses. The PVY outbreak seriously impacted commercial potato growers, who unknowingly purchased infected seed potatoes. Commercial potato growers, university researchers, and extension personnel blamed Washington seed potato growers for the PVY outbreak. Drawing on the literature about perceptions of innovation attributes, nonadoption of agricultural innovations, and farm‐level disease management, we offer a broader perspective on PVY management among Washington seed potato growers. We explore the reasons behind seed potato growers' nonadoption of a specific innovation that has the potential to protect potatoes from PVY problems. We argue that seed potato growers approach PVY management in logical and intentional ways, and have distinct reasons for choosing not to adopt certain PVY management practices. Our study contributes to scholarship on the perceived attributes and nonadoption of agricultural innovations, as well as interdisciplinary work on plant disease management. A better understanding of PVY management decision making can help efforts to ensure agricultural biosecurity, maintain crop quality and yield, and prevent economic losses within the potato industry in Washington State, the second largest producer of potatoes in the United States.
Potato virus Y (PVY) causes significant crop and monetary losses. Owing to the prevalence of newly emerging strains of PVY such as PVYN-Wi, which often cause asymptomatic to mild reactions on certain potato cultivars, accurate tools are required to detect the virus in potato production. This study compared the sensitivity of a rapid field detection method (immunostrips) with a common laboratory detection method (triple antibody sandwich ELISA) on cultivar Chieftain, grown under isolated conditions in a greenhouse and mechanically inoculated with PVYN-Wi, at four potato growth stages (emergence, preflower, postflower, and senescence). Plants inoculated at emergence displayed severe symptoms of mosaic, veinal necrosis, and leaf drop. Plants inoculated at preflower, postflower, and senescence had veinal necrosis but low or no incidence of mosaic and leaf drop. Overall, few or no tuber symptoms were observed, but a trend of lower tuber yield occurred for emergence-inoculated plants. Low variability in PVYN-Wi detection occurred in both tests for emergence-inoculated plants, whereas those inoculated at preflower and postflower had more variability. Because symptom expression may differ depending on the growth stage when a plant becomes infected, these variations should be heeded with either detection method when collecting samples for PVY testing.
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