By SHELLY STRAUTZ-SPRINGBORN
Michigan Correspondent

EAST LANSING, Mich. — Michigan State University has earned a $5.4 million grant for potato and tomato research.

The four-year award is the largest of nine grants given by the USDA Cooperative State Research, Education and Extension Service (CSREES) National Research Initiative Plant Genome Program, and represents more than half of the $9.4 million award total.

Specialty crop researchers at MSU will study the quality, yield, drought tolerance and disease resistance of potatoes and tomatoes, two of the world’s most important crops and significant contributors to Michigan’s $67 billion agricultural economy.

“Potatoes and tomatoes are important vegetable crops that are challenged by disease and pests,” said MSU crop and soil scientist and Michigan Agricultural Experiment Station (MAES) researcher Dave Douches, who will co-lead the project with MSU plant biologist Robin Buell.

“Enhancing our ability to tackle these problems from a genetic angle will improve the quality of produce for consumers and processors and provide potato and tomato growers with varieties that are more pest- and disease-resistant.”

The project brings together an integrated team of researchers, educators and extension specialists from MSU, The Ohio State University, Cornell University, the University of California at Davis and Oregon State University. The main objective of the project is to use new technologies that incorporate emerging DNA sequence data with basic research data to improve potato and tomato varieties.
Ben Kudwa, executive director of the Michigan Potato Industry Commission, said the research is integral to the future of the state’s potato industry.

 “Pests and diseases continue to be a serious problem in Michigan potato production,” he added. “Michigan potato growers continue to incur significant financial losses as a result of pests such as the Colorado potato beetle and diseases such as potato late blight and potato scab, when intervention measures to control them are unsuccessful.

“This level of funding, combined with the expertise and leadership of Dave Douches and the rest of the project team, will help ensure that the potato and specialty crop industries remain strong and viable in Michigan and beyond.”

The MSU program will be administered under the Cooperative Agriculture Project (CAP), a USDA-CSREES program that funds multiyear, multi-institutional collaborative projects. Past CAP programs have focused on rice, wheat, barley and conifers.

“This is the first non-grain/forestry project funded under the CAP program and the first project that’s working on two different species,” Buell said. “The potato is the most important vegetable worldwide and the Solanaceae family – which includes potatoes, tomatoes, peppers and eggplants – is the most important vegetable family, period, so this represents a very important and significant investment by the USDA.”

The project team will also develop a course for graduate students, offer workshops and practical training for plant breeders and create online networking resources for plant breeders, seed industry professionals, extension specialists and practitioners. MAES director Steve Pueppke said this level of funding is a testament to MSU’s research capabilities.

“Research funding at this level is essential to improving agricultural efficiency and sustainability, and addressing critical and emerging national priorities and needs,” he said.