10/17/07 PCN eradication, part 2

As part of the potato cyst nematode eradication effort in eastern Idaho tens of thousands of soil samples have been taken and there's more to come. APHIS supervisory plant and quarantine officer Tina Gresham says each five pound soil sample is soaked with water, sifted, strained and carefully examined. GRESHAM "We end up with a solution that contains cysts floating on the top if they're present and obviously if they're not then we don't find any in that sample and then those cysts are reviewed by using microscopes." At the state lab in Twin Falls researchers have gone one step further by developing a viability test. GRESHAM "Dyeing the eggs in the juveniles that come out of the cysts to determine how many of them are still alive and so our hope is that with this method we can compare viability before and after our chemical treatments to see how effective they are." The eradication program will go on for several years and will involve field testing in all of the potato production areas of Idaho. GRESHAM "Our goal is to survey ten percent of the production acreage and the seed acreage in the entire state, that's every year." Gresham says they also want to do tests in other potato growing states as part of a national PCN campaign. Today's Idaho Ag News Bill Scott