A NEW strain of aggressive potato blight called Blue 13 which arrived here from Britain in 2007 is causing concern for growers and scientists. A special team of scientists from Teagasc in Oak Park, Co Carlow, and Queen’s University Belfast, are working to find ways to control the threat which arrived in Britain from the Continent in 2005.
It was first identified in the North by Dr Louise Cooke in late 2007, but since then has spread over much of the east coast crops.
Dr Stephen Kildea of Teagasc said by late last year it had found its way into crops across the island.
While Blue 13 has now come to dominate blight in potato fields in England, Wales and Scotland, as yet samples from Irish crops have shown it makes up only 25 per cent of blight in Irish crops.
“We are a couple of years behind Britain in getting this strain and we are working with experts in the North to find ways to combat it,” said Dr Kildea.