Potato Research
JHI is probably the world's largest centre for research into potatoes, and it is the role of MRS to convert this potato research into products and services of value to the potato industry. This is achieved in several ways:
Breeding Breeding JHI, and its predecessor the Scottish Crop Research Institute, has a long and distinguished history of breeding commercially successful varieties, including the well-known Pentland series such as Pentland Dell and Pentland Javelin. A list of our current portfolio of varieties can be found here. We are interested in talking to companies considering initiating their own breeding programmes or who like to access new varieties of potatoes.
Plant Pathology and Diagnostics JHI is a world leader in the study of pests and diseases of potato with particular strengths in late blight (Phytophthora infestans), black leg (Erwinia) and potato cyst nematode (PCN) and viruses (Potato Leafroll Virus, Tobacco Rattle Virus, Potato Moptop Virus, Potato Virus Y). This expertise has been utilised to develop a range of diagnostic tests for the detection of commercially important diseases of potato.
Potato Agronomy and Physiology Scientists at JHI have considerable experience in developing models of potato crops for use by individual farmers or agronomists. The Management Advisory Package for Potato (mapp) is a software package that advises growers on seed rates, irrigation strategies and harvest times in order to optimise financial returns based on graded yields. In addition, we have developed software packages that advise growers on strategies to control nematode populations in potato crops, based on crop rotation, choice of variety and use of nematicides or soil sterilisation.
