Kennebec is a medium- to late-maturing white

potato The potato is a starchy food, a tuber of the plant ''Solanum tuberosum'' and is a root vegetable native to the Americas. The plant is a perennial in the nightshade family Solanaceae. Wild potato species can be found from the southern Unit ...

. It was bred by the

USDA The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is the federal executive department responsible for developing and executing federal laws related to farming, forestry, rural economic development, and food. It aims to meet the needs of com ...

and selected by Presque Isle Station, Maine, in 1941. Kennebec is not under

plant variety protection The Plant Variety Protection Act of 1970 (PVPA), 7 U.S.C. §§ 2321-2582, is an intellectual property statute in the United States. The PVPA gives breeders up to 25 years of exclusive control over new, distinct, uniform, and stable sexually reprod ...

. This fast-growing variety has high yields. It maintains good quality in storageAkeley, R. V.; Stevenson, F. J.; Schultz, E. S. (1948)."Kennebec: A new potato variety resistant to late blight, mild mosaic, and net necrosis". ''American Potato Journal'' 25:351-361 and is grown for both fresh market use and for potato chip manufacturing.

Botanical characteristics

* The Kennebec plant is non-pigmented, large and erect, with thick stems that are prominently angled. * Sprouts are grayish green with a slightly purple bottom. * The leaves are broad, long and dark green with slightly pubescent midribs. * Primarily the leaflets are ovate, large and grow in pairs of four. Secondary leaflets occur in a medium number. Tertiary leaflets occur very seldom, if at all. Terminally, the leaflets stay ovate and have acute tips and a lobed base. * Very few of the large white flowers emerge from the scantly pubescent green buds. * Tubers are medium thick with an elliptical to oblong shape. The skin is smooth and creamy with shallow eyes.

Agricultural characteristics

* Kennebec is resistant to tuber net necrosis, which

Potato leafroll virus Potato leafroll virus (PLRV) is a member of the genus ''Polerovirus'' and family ''Solemoviridae''. The phloem limited positive sense RNA virus infects potatoes and other members of the family Solanaceae. PLRV was first described by Quanjer ''e ...

causes. * It is moderately resistant to foliage

late blight ''Phytophthora infestans'' is an oomycete or water mold, a fungus-like microorganism that causes the serious potato and tomato disease known as late blight or potato blight. Early blight, caused by ''Alternaria solani'', is also often called "pot ...

, black leg,

fusarium ''Fusarium'' is a large genus of filamentous fungi, part of a group often referred to as hyphomycetes, widely distributed in soil and associated with plants. Most species are harmless saprobes, and are relatively abundant members of the soil mi ...

dry rot,

phoma ''Phoma'' is a genus of common coelomycetous soil fungi. It contains many plant pathogenic species. Description Spores are colorless and unicellular. The pycnidia are black and depressed in the tissues of the host. ''Phoma'' is arbitrarily lim ...

rot, potato wart, seed-piece decay, PVS and

PVX Potato virus X (PVX) is a plant pathogenic virus of the family ''Alphaflexiviridae'' and the order ''Tymovirales''. PVX is found mainly in potatoes and is only transmitted mechanically. There are no insect or fungal vectors for this virus. This v ...

. * It is susceptible to

common scab Common scab is a plant disease of root and tuber crops caused by a small number of '' Streptomyces'' species, specifically '' S. scabies'', '' S. acidiscabies'', '' S. turgidiscabies'' and others. Common scab mainly affects potato ...

, fusarium dry rot, tuber late blight, leaf roll, pink eye, and Rhizoctonia. * It is highly susceptible to

Verticillium wilt Verticillium wilt is a wilt disease affecting over 350 species of eudicot plants. It is caused by six species of ''Verticillium'' fungi: ''V. dahliae'', ''V. albo-atrum'', ''V. longisporum'', ''V. nubilum'', ''V. theobromae'' and ''V. tricorpu ...

References

{{Potato cultivars Potato cultivars