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Mr. Mark E. Clough
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Researcher and Extension Associate | |
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Department of Horticulture VGJREC 207 Research Station Rd. Plymouth, NC 27962 | |
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Phone: 252.793.4428 X 156 | |
| M.S. 1998, East Carolina University |
I have an 80/20 split between research and extension. The emphasis of my research is potato cultivar development. Specifically by developing or introduction of better adapted chipping, table, and specialty lines. Current projects include 1)the development of Colorado Potato Beetle resistant germplasm derived from the presence of a foliar expressed glycoalkaloid - leptine. 2) Development and screening of Internal Heat Necrosis resistant and heat tolerant lines. 3) Early generation screening of materials from the USDA-ARS, Cornell University, and the University of Maine.
The breeding program conducts 11 to 15 potato variety yield trials each year. Four to six of these are spread out on growers farms and the remainder are on the Tidewater Research Station in Plymouth NC. Each trial has between 12 and 24 lines grower trials typically have the most advanced materials, those either newly released or that have been around a while. Our trials on the station act as a filter to screen out the less adapted materials before showing them off to the NC potato growing community. Data collected from yield trials is reported each year in our annual report and available for downloading from our Potato Reports page as well as in our potato variety database which has variety information from 1995 to present.
In addition to variety yield trials our program conducts 6 to 8 breeding trials each year. The clones in these trials at harvest are subjectively selected those we like being advanced to the next year. In the 4th or 5th year they are placed in a yield trial to compare to standard lines and the best are moved to grower trials.