Isolation and Characterization of Bacteria Associated with Spoilt Irish Potato (Solanum Tuberosum)

Irish potato is an edible tuber from the Solanum tuberosum plant, which is actually native to South America, not Ireland as many people think. Irish potatoes are named after Ireland because; they are closely associated with the Irish potato famine, a historical famine caused by a mold infection of the Irish potato crop. The isolation of bacteria responsible for the spoilage of Irish potato was done using Nutrient agar media. Four genera of bacteria which include Bacillus spp., Erwinia spp., Pseudomonas pp., and Corynebacterium spp. were identified to be the causative microorganism responsible for potato spoilage. These microorganisms may cause low economic yield of potato. Good sanitary measures and planting of resistant varieties of potato should be used to prevent entrance of these microorganisms into potato tubers.