Experts have found an effective way to protect potatoes from soil diseases

The American Phytopathological Society, as part of its own press release, said that scientists

have developed a completely new method of crop rotation, thanks to which the potato harvest can be more likely to be preserved.

So, a group of scientists, led by Robert Larkinfrom the University of Maine, proposed alternating potatoes with plants of the genus Brassica, which include products such as cabbage, turnips and rutabaga. Thanks to these crops, agronomists can not only interrupt the cycle of potato pathogen and host, but also produce completely new substances for potato soil that kill microorganisms harmful to tubers. When the next season comes, experts suggest sowing winter rye or other cover crops.

This cycle is proposed to be maintained for three years, due to which the fields will be able, so to speak, to “rest” from potatoes, and therefore not to allow future crops to “get sick” from soil diseases.