Red Pearl: A new gourmet red potato variety

Red Pearl is a medium-late variety with round tubers of stable dark red skin and white flesh. It is an ideal gourmet and canning variety due to its high tuber set and high proportion of tubers less than 4.76 cm diameter (up to 71% of the total yield). Red Pearl has good boiling and baking qualities. Its specific gravity is slightly higher and the tuber dormancy is longer than Dark Red Norland. Red Pearl yields only 54% to 77% of Red Norland because of its small tuber size. Red Pearl is less susceptible to common scab (Streptomyces scabiae) than Dark Red Norland, significantly more resistant to corky ring spot (tobacco rattle virus) than Dark Red Norland and is resistant to bacterial wilt and brown rot (Ralstonia solanacearum). Red Pearl showed similar susceptibilities to several other diseases, including early blight, late blight, pink rot, and tuber soft rot, compared to Dark Red Norland. Red Pearl is more susceptible to shatter bruise and blackspot than Dark Red Norland when handled from storage at 7.2 C.