Just as a rotten apple can spoil the bunch, so can a rotten potato. So UW-Madison researchers have developed a test that may for the first time allow growers to prevent widespread crop damage.
Using a technique called polymerase chain reaction, or PCR, Zahi Atallah, associate researcher in the department of plant pathology, developed a test that can detect as few as one spore of a number of fungal diseases that can destroy potatoes. A spore is the early stage of fungi.