Infection of first-year potato seedlings with fusarium solani var. eumartil

Conclusion

The testing of first-year seedlings for fusarium wilt resistance in the greenhouse has proved to be a satisfactory method of eliminating susceptibles. It overcomes the disadvantages of the high expense of growing plants from tubers in the greenhouse and reduces the large number of escapes that often occur in the field. The symptoms of the disease are as clearly defined in the small seedling plants as in plants grown from tubers. Although seedlings of desirable horticultural quality may be lost, the high percentage of infection obtained in all crosses tested to date would indicate that the chances of obtaining resistant seedlings after selection has been made for other characters would be slight. The number of tests to date has been limited but the results indicate that the desirability of parent stock for fusarium resistance can be rapidly determined by this method.