Introduction
Potato brown rot
(Ralstonia solanacearum) is a serious bacterial disease of potatoes that is listed in the EC Plant Health Directive and is notifiable in the UK. It is caused by the bacterium Ralstonia solanacearum. It is widely distributed in warm temperate areas of the world and within the EC there have been findings in many Member States including Belgium, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, The Netherlands, Portugal, Slovakia, Spain and Sweden.
There have been five outbreaks in England in ware potatoes between 1992 and 2000. The bacterium was found in Scotland in 2000, in water samples and in the alternative host,
Solanum dulcamara, taken from a small stretch of the Tay river system in Perthshire during routine monitoring. The bacterium has now been successfully eradicated.
Despite intensive testing of potato crops following the finding of the bacterium
potato brown rot has never been found in Scottish potatoes. Tomato crops are also susceptible and have been affected at a single location in England in 1997 and 1998.