Potential for pre-harvest prediction of drought stress-induced potato physiological disorders

Potato growers and processors suffer large losses in crop value when water stress during crop growth induces subsequent tuber physiological disorders, such as in 2018. Modelling studies show that these stresses will become more frequent and severe in the UK with climate change. The physiological mechanisms of stress-induced tuber disorders are poorly understood, but the limited knowledge available suggests that it may be feasible to use pre-harvest water stress sensing techniques to predict which crops will be affected. This would help to reduce these losses by aiding marketing and storage decisions.
Objectives:
1. To identify, collate and categorise all relevant evidence on the effectiveness of sensing technologies in detecting crop water stress using the evidence synthesis approach.
2. To understand the functional basis of the relationship between sensing technologies and drought-induced yield loss and physiological disorders.
3. To validate the most promising prediction method in many potato crops.