Diseases of Potatoes in Iowa

Authors

I. E. Melhus, Iowa Agricultural Experiment StationFollow
D. R. Shepherd, Iowa Agricultural Experiment StationFollow
Marie A. Corkle, Iowa Agricultural Experiment StationFollow

Document Type

Research

Abstract

It is a well-known fact that potato production in Iowa has decreased since 1895. This raises the question as to the cause of this decline. Many factors contributed to the decrease in potato production, one of which was the destructiveness of various diseases. Many diseases tend to initiate sharp fluctuations in yield and quality, two factors that have much to do with the stability of a given crop. Previous to 1895 there were no well-developed control measures for any of the potato diseases: in fact the causal agencies of many of them were quite unknown. Consequently, as different pathogens became established in the virgin soil they accentuated the annual fluctuation in production. The decline following 1895 warrants study particularly from the viewpoint of the role of diseases. In order to do this all available records of potato failures and diseases have been consulted and summarized in the following pages.

Publication Date

1941

Journal Title

Proceedings of the Iowa Academy of Science

Volume

48

Issue

1

First Page

133

Last Page

146

Copyright

©1941 Iowa Academy of Science, Inc.

Language

en

File Format

application/pdf

Recommended Citation

Melhus, I. E.; Shepherd, D. R.; and Corkle, Marie A. (1941) "Diseases of Potatoes in Iowa," Proceedings of the Iowa Academy of Science, 48(1), 133-146.
Available at: https://scholarworks.uni.edu/pias/vol48/iss1/16