Phytophthora infestans, the causal agent of late blight, is a major threat to potato production in northwestern Europe. Before 1980, the worldwide population of P. infestans outside Mexico appeared to be asexual and to consist of a single clonal lineage of A1 mating type characterized by a single genotype. It is widely believed that new strains migrated into Europe in 1976 and that this led to subsequent population changes including the introduction of the A2 mating type. The population characteristics of recently collected isolates in NW Europe show a diverse population including both mating types, sexual reproduction and oospores, although differences are observed between regions. Although it is difficult to find direct evidence that new strains are more aggressive, there are several indications from experiments and field epidemics that the aggressiveness of P. infestans has increased in the past 20 years. The relative importance of the different primary inoculum sources and specific measures for reducing their role, such as covering dumps with plastic and preventing seed tubers from becoming infected, is described for the different regions. In NW Europe, varieties with greater resistance tend not to be grown on a large scale. From the grower's perspective, the savings in fungicide input that can be achieved with these varieties are not compensated by the higher (perceived) risk of blight. Fungicides play a crucial role in the integrated control of late blight. The spray strategies in NW Europe and a table of the specific attributes of the most important fungicides in Europe are presented. The development and use of decision support systems (DSSs) in NW Europe are described. In The Netherlands, it is estimated that almost 40% of potato growers use recommendations based on commercially available DSS. In the Nordic countries, a new DSS concept with a fixed 7-day spray interval and a variable dose rate is being tested. In the UK, commercially available DSSs are used for c. 8% of the area. The validity of Smith Periods for the new population of P. infestans in the UK is currently being evaluated.

The biology of late blight of potato and tomato, caused by Phytophthora infestans, changed when sexual reproduction by the pathogen became possible in many parts of the world, including Europe. In northern Europe, especially Scandinavia, there is increasing evidence that the pathogen is reproducing sexually on a regular basis, although in other regions further south or to the west it appears to reproduce primarily in a clonal manner. The presence of both mating types, the production of viable oospores, and observations of fields with soilborne sources of inoculum are consistent with sexual reproduction. Studies with different marker systems have revealed a population structure without any dominating clonal lineages in Scandinavia, and that is most easily explained by sexual reproduction. Phytophthora infestans recovered from the soil can also be linked to parental genotypes using likelihood-based methods when codominant markers are used. A synthesis of all the available data points to a second centre of sexual reproduction in northern Europe.

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A total of 743 single-lesion isolates of Phytophthora infestans were collected in summer 2003 from Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden. Most of the isolates were tested for mating type, and subsets were tested for sensitivity to fungicides and virulence (host specific pathogenicity). Approximately 60% of the isolates were A1 mating type in each country. Both mating types were present in 40% of the fields where more than one isolate was tested, indicating strong potential for sexual reproduction. The proportion of metalaxyl-resistant isolates dropped to under 15% from the 60% observed in the early 1990s in Norway and Finland, possibly due to lower selection pressure because of decreased use of metalaxyl. Propamocarb-HCl sensitivity remained unchanged in the Nordic countries compared to the situation in 1997 -2000 in Finland. Four isolates collected from Finland and Sweden were able to sporulate in the presence of this fungicide at a concentration of 1000 mg L -1. In Norway and Finland the frequencies of virulence factors and pathotypes remained nearly unchanged since the 1990s, but the mean number of virulence factors per isolate increased from 5·6 to 6·3. In Denmark and Sweden virulence factors 2 and especially 6 were more common than in Norway and Finland. In addition, in the Swedish population the frequencies of pathotypes were quite even while in other countries pathotype 1,3,4,7,10,11 was most prevalent.

Sixty-eight isolates of Phytophthora infestans were collected from an early planted, fleece-protected potato field in southwest Sweden in May 2001. No infection was observed in the neighbouring fields. In the field investigated, infected plants were found in six discrete foci, with symptoms almost exclusively observed in the lower part of the canopy and numerous infections found on stems and on leaves touching the ground. The structure of the population was analysed based on mating type, mitochondrial haplotype and microsatellites (SSRs) as markers. Both mating types were present and haplotypes Ia and IIa were detected. Among 61 isolates analysed with microsatellite markers, 14 multilocus genotypes were distinguished based on six polymorphic loci. Out of the six foci, three included 3-5 genotypes each. There were unique genotypes in all foci, except two closely situated to each other. These findings strongly suggest that soilborne oosporic inoculum contributed significantly to initiate the late-blight epidemic in the investigated field.

Fungal plant diseases driven by weather factors are common in European wheat and barley crops. Among these, septoria tritici blotch (Zymoseptoria tritici), tan spot (Pyrenophora tritici-repentis), and stagonospora nodorum blotch (Parastagonospora nodorum) are common in the Nordic-Baltic region at variable incidence and severity both in spring and winter wheat fields. In spring barley, net blotch (Pyrenophora teres), scald (Rhynchosporium graminicola, syn. Rhynchosporium commune) and ramularia leaf spot (Ramularia collo-cygni) are common yield limiting foliar diseases. We analysed data from 449 field trials from 2007 to 2017 in wheat and barley crops in the Nordic-Baltic region and explored the differences in severity of leaf blotch diseases between countries and years, and the impact of the diseases on yield. In the experiments, septoria tritici blotch dominated in winter wheat in Denmark and southern Sweden; while in Lithuania, both septoria tritici blotch and tan spot were common. In spring wheat, stagonospora nodorum blotch dominated in Norway and tan spot in Finland. Net blotch and ramularia leaf blotch were the most severe barley diseases over large areas, while scald occurred more locally and had less yield impact in all countries. Leaf blotch diseases, with severity >50% at DC 73–77, caused an average yield loss of 1072 kg/ha in winter wheat and 1114 kg/ha in spring barley across all countries over 5 years. These data verify a large regional and yearly variation in disease severity, distribution and impact on yield, emphasizing the need to adapt fungicide applications to the actual need based on locally adapted risk assessment systems.

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