3-6 FB More on Zebra

 Potato scientists tackle Zebra chip disease threat. In October, the University of Idaho College of Agricultural and Life Sciences confirmed that Idaho’s potato growers faced a new challenge to the state’s most famous crop with the arrival of Zebra chip. The potato disease, named for the dark bands it produces in fried potato products, was initially found last summer in research plots and fields in Jerome and Twin Falls counties. It poses no known health, safety, or nutritional problems.  “Zebra chip disease is a Liber Bacter which is a bacterium like disease organism. It took many years for them to identify what a causal agent for zebra chip is. This bacterium is  vectored by a potato psyllid which is a small insect that can be found in certain regions such as Idaho and the Northwest.” In mid-January, Phil Nolte, University of Idaho Extension seed potato specialist at Idaho Falls, told growers that it’s too soon to know whether Zebra chip’s appearance in Idaho last year was a curiosity or the first sign of a coming scourge.