Reducing tuber damage by potato tuberworm (Lepidoptera: Gelechiidae) with cultural practices and insecticides

Fumigant toxicities of essential oils and two monoterpenes against potato tuber moth (Phthorimaea operculella Zeller)

Introduction: The potato tuber moth (PTM) is the major economic pest of potato. Different approaches were tried to prevent and control this pest including natural pesticides and synthetic fumigants.

Objectives: This study was conducted to evaluate the insecticidal activity of the essential oils of thyme and myrtle. In addition to evaluating the insecticidal activity of carvacrol and eucalyptol against the different life stages of potato tuber moth using a fumigation bioassays.

Methods: Thyme and myrtle oils were extracted from wild Thymus syriacus Boiss. and wild Myrtus communis L. by hydrodistillation. Fumigation experiments were conducted on potato tuber moth of different stages of development (eggs, larvae, pupae, and adults), using standard methods. The potato tuber moth was treated for different periods using different concentrations of the essential oils. One-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was applied on the mortality percentages data to estimate the significance of differences between treatments at p<0.05. Probit analysis was used to estimate the LC50, LC90 and LT50.

Results: Adult stage was the most sensitive to essential oils vapours with LC50 value of 0.5 μl/l air. Whereas, pupal stages were the most tolerant. The essential oil of thyme possessed the strongest fumigant toxicity against eggs with a LC50 value of 6.1 μl/l air. The two monoterpens showed varied fumigant toxicity against adult stage. Carvacrol achieved 100% mortality at 0.125 μl/l air after 6 h, and 0.025 μl/l air after 48h exposure with LT50 period of 0.5 h.

Conclusion: The present work demonstrated that T. syriacus essential oil is a promising natural fumigant against the different developmental stages of PTM.

Seasonal Population Dynamics of Three Potato Pests in Washington State

Pest phenology models allow producers to anticipate pest outbreaks and deploy integrated pest management (IPM) strategies. Phenology models are particularly useful for cropping systems with multiple economically damaging pests throughout a season. Potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) crops of Washington State, USA, are attacked by many insect pests including the potato tuberworm (Phthorimaea operculella Zeller), the beet leafhopper (Circulifer tenellus Baker), and the green peach aphid (Myzus persicae Sulzer). Each of these pests directly damages potato foliage or tubers; C. tenellus and M. persicae also transmit pathogens that can drastically reduce potato yields. We monitored the seasonal population dynamics of these pests by conducting weekly sampling on a network of commercial farms from 2007 to 2014. Using these data, we developed phenology models to characterize the seasonal population dynamics of each pest based on accumulated degree-days (DD). All three pests exhibited consistent population dynamics across seasons that were mediated by temperature. Of the three pests, C. tenellus was generally the first detected in potato crops, with 90% of adults captured by 936 DD. In contrast, populations of P. operculella and M. persicae built up more slowly over the course of the season, with 90% cumulative catch by 1,590 and 2,634 DD, respectively. Understanding these seasonal patterns could help potato producers plan their IPM strategies while allowing them to move away from calendar-based applications of insecticides. More broadly, our results show how long-term monitoring studies that explore dynamics of multiple pest species can aid in developing IPM strategies in crop systems.