BASF Aims To Conduct UK GM Potato Trials

25/08/06 BASF Plant Science has applied to the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs for permission to conduct two field trials of genetically modified potatoes in the UK in 2007.

BASF Plant Science has developed genetically improved potatoes, using a natural trait found in a wild potato that causes resistance to the fungal disease late blight.

The research could provide a valuable new way to control a severe disease that causes global crop damage costing up to £2bn a year.

Barry Stickings of BASF said: “We are applying to conduct two field trials in the UK because late blight has a significant impact on UK food production. If the genes from the wild potato help to protect potato crops it will be a scientific breakthrough.“

He went on to say:  “In an increasingly competitive international environment, we believe UK farmers would benefit from this technology. The disease currently results in 5-10% of the UK potato yield being lost each year, despite the use of fungicides."

The trials would be conducted at the headquarters of the National Institute of Agricultural Botany (NIAB) in Cambridge and on a farm in Derbyshire.

During the field trials, the genetically improved plants will be evaluated in comparison to standard potatoes for agronomic performance and resistance to late blight infection under UK growing conditions. The potatoes will be analysed in a laboratory to evaluate their resistance to late blight.

If the Secretary of State approves the application, planting will take place in spring 2007 and harvesting will be in autumn 2007. The field trials will be repeated over the following four years. The potatoes, grown and harvested under strict conditions set down by Defra (the Department of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) would occupy no more than one hectare within a plot of 2 hectares at each site per year.

Similar trials have been conducted in Sweden, Germany and the Netherlands.

The potatoes provide resistance to a disease that reduces crop yield and tuber quality. In severe cases, the whole crop may be lost. Diseased tubers are not suitable for consumption.

All crop plants contain resistance genes that protect them from diseases. Most current potato varieties contain resistance genes that provide some protection from fungal infection, but do not protect the plants completely. The plants BASF will be field testing have already shown (in the greenhouse and the field) that they can complement the existing resistance and provide the plant with much stronger protection from late blight.

In the UK, the financial losses resulting from crop damage caused by late blight are estimated to be up to £50 million a year, with an additional £20 million spent annually on fungicides to protect the crop from the disease.