A further finding of potato ring rot has been confirmed at a farm in Lincolnshire.
Inspectors from Defra made the discovery during the investigation to identify the source and extent of infection associated with the recent ring rot outbreak in Herefordshire.
The Lincolnshire farm had received Sante seed potatoes for planting in 2003 from one of the same Dutch stocks supplied to the farm in Herefordshire. Farm saved seed was retained from the 2003 harvested crop and replanted in 2004. The ring rot has been detected in the 2004 crop.
The seed potatoes supplied to both farms derived from a Sante stock with a clonal link to a stock implicated in a 2004 ring rot finding in the Netherlands.
The results of sampling and testing from other farms involved with the second phase of the investigation into the Herefordshire outbreak have been negative to date, Defra said, although some stocks remain to be harvested and tested.
As well as the Lincolnshire farm, the programme is focussing on the outbreak farm in Herefordshire and farms in Norfolk, Newcastle and Suffolk.
