The Higgins Group, one of the UK's leading potato producer and supplier, has commissioned a new laboratory facility in Elgin, Scotland, which it says will put it at the forefront of potato disease diagnostics in the UK.
The “substantial” investment, which has included grant aid from Moray Badenoch & Strathspey Enterprise, will extend the company's already comprehensive testing resources into molecular and tissue culture diagnostics.
More sensitive and accurate PCR diagnostics are replacing elisa as the preferred testing method, and the state-of-the-art Qualitative Polymerase Chain Reaction (QPCR) test for blackleg developed in conjunction with the Scottish Crop Research Institute (SCRI) is already undertaken on all Higgins commercial seed stocks, as well as stocks destined for replanting the following season.
Higgins Group md David Higgins said: “This state-of-the-art technology complements our existing stock assessment procedures, allowing stocks to be allocated to specific markets and customers. This way we can reduce the uncertainty and guarantee the best possible returns to our growers by limiting the risk of disease and subsequent claims.”
The Higgins Group has offices in Yorkshire, Lincolnshire, Scotland and France, and operates throughout Europe.
No comments yet