Dr Ruairidh Bain warned delegates at the Seed Industry Event that the battle against potato blight control starts now and that growers and store managers need to be prepared.

Bain said that potato dumps remain the number one source of blight inoculum and infection in recent years and under the right weather conditions foliage can appear early. He said: "It's vital to stamp this out as soon as it emerges or risk the consequences later."

Bain also explained the results of studies into the importance of seed tuber-borne blight. He added: "The threat seed tubers pose to blight infection is no where near on the scale of potato dumps. But the presence of blighted plants grown from blighted seed can considerably increase the risk of a severe outbreak, so it's important to plant healthy seed stocks."