A "Bio-Bandage" for Banged-Up Potatoes - Homework Help

A "Bio-Bandage" for Banged-Up Potatoes
By Jan Suszkiw, Agricultural Research Service, Information Staff
Science4kids

There's nothing like hot, creamy mashed potatoes with some butter sliding off the side. But maybe you've noticed that while peeling those potatoes, Mom or Dad ended up throwing some out because of a black, crusty-looking rot inside.

One culprit is called the dry rot fungus. It usually grows inside the spuds by entering nicks on their skin. These small cuts happen when potatoes are dug up in the field or trucked off to storage houses.

Most potatoes with dry rot are removed from market long before consumers buy them. But the Photo of a bandage.U.S. potato industry is forced to foot the bill, namely $250 million in yearly losses.

Now, researchers are hoping to keep the fungus out of potatoes by spraying them with a kind of biological "bandage." Normally, chemicals called fungicides are used. But lately, the dry rot fungus has become immune to the chemicals' effect.

Please visit the web site to learn more.