Palisade Russet: A Late Blight Resistant Potato Cultivar Having a Low Incidence of Sugar Ends and High Specific Gravity

Palisade Russet is a medium-late maturing, lightly russeted potato cultivar notable for its resistance to late blight (Phytophthora infestans) infection of foliage and tuber. Palisade Russet is suitable for processing with low tuber glucose concentrations observed following long-term storage at a temperature as low as 5.6°C with consistently acceptable fry color scores (USDA value ≤2.0) following storage at temperatures of 5.6 to 8.9°C. Reducing sugars are also maintained uniformly throughout the tuber, resulting in a low incidence of sugar ends in French fries relative to standard processing cultivars such as Russet Burbank and Ranger Russet. Palisade Russet has shown high specific gravities in western production regions of the U.S. which may limit its acceptance by the western processing industry. However, in potato production regions with inherently low specific gravities, Palisade Russet could have potential as a processing cultivar. In full-season trials conducted in Idaho, Oregon, and Washington over a 5 year period, the average total yield of Palisade Russet across all three states was very similar to yields observed for Ranger Russet and Russet Burbank. However, the U.S. No. 1 yield of Palisade Russet was 3% and 31% higher relative to Ranger Russet and Russet Burbank, respectively. In addition to late blight, Palisade Russet is also resistant to Verticillium wilt, black dot, and pink rot, and has a moderate level of resistance to net necrosis, PVY, and early blight of both the foliage and tuber. The disease resistances of Palisade Russet make it a good candidate for organic production, or for use by growers seeking reduced pesticide inputs. Palisade Russet displays a low incidence of second growth and growth cracks, especially relative to Russet Burbank, and is intermediate between Ranger Russet and Russet Burbank for incidence of hollow heart/brown center. Blackspot bruise expression for Palisade Russet is less pronounced than for either Ranger Russet or Russet Burbank, however it is slightly more susceptible to shatter bruise. Palisade Russet was released in 2011 by the USDA-ARS and the Agricultural Experiment Stations of Idaho, Oregon, and Washington, and is a product of the Pacific Northwest Potato Variety (Tri-State) Development Program.