Incidence of Potato Virus X in Foundation and Certified Seed of Seven Cultivars

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Abstract
Differences in levels of infection of potato virus X (PVX) between foundation and commercial seed of 7 cultivars were determined by testing 4315 tubers with enyzme-linked immunosorbent assay. Atlantic, BelRus, Katahdin, Kennebec, Ontario, Russet Burbank and Superior were the cultivars included in the study. Commercial seed of all cultivars except Kennebec had a significantly (P = 0.05) higher percent infection and titer than those of foundation seed. Kennebec was the only cultivar for which virus incidence or titer did not increase when grown commercially. Incidence of PVX in foundation seed of ''Ontario'', which was freed of the virus by heat treatment and meristem-tip culture, remained as low as 1% for 7 yr after treatment. Some growers were able to maintain percent infection and titer of PVX as low as that of the foundation seed released to them even after 3 yr or more of propagation. In contrast, seed of the same cultivar suffered high levels of PVX contamination when grown by other growers operating at the same location.