Appendix B: Seminar transcript POTATO VIRUSES AFTER THE XXth CENTURY: EFFECTS, DISSEMINATION AND THEIR CONTROL

Soon after its introduction to Europe prior to 1570, potato crops started to suffer “degeneration” or “running off”. This was attributed to physiological changes in the cultivars due to continuous vegetative propagation (Salaman, 1970). It was not until the XIXth century that the true cause of degeneration was found to be due to diseases, especially those caused by viruses. Thus, for successful potato production, major efforts have been made to control virus diseases by eliminating them from clonal (seed tubers) and seed-propagated stocks. The effectiveness of these procedures relies on appropriate identification of the causal viruses and the development of accurate, sensitive and low-cost virus detection technology.