Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
9 Insect Pests of Potato
Timothy D. Waters 1 * and Andrew S. Jensen 2
1 Washington State University Extension, Pasco, Washington, USA;
2 Potato Commissions of Idaho, Oregon, and Washington, Eagle, Idaho, USA
Potato is affected by a wide range of insects and
other arthropods throughout the world. Some of
these species specialize on Solanaceae and have
colonized new areas as the crop has been moved
from place to place by humans. Examples of this
colonization are found in the Colorado potato
beetle ( Leptinotarsa decemlineata (Say)) and po-
tato tuberworm ( Phthorimaea operculella (Zeller)).
Other important pests are generalists and nearly
cosmopolitan in distribution, such as the green
peach aphid ( Myzus persicae (Sulzer)) and the two-
spotted spider mite ( Tetranychus urticae (Koch)).
Most regions in the world are also affected by
regionally important pests such as the beet
leafhopper ( Circulifer tenellus (Baker)) in the
north-west USA and the twenty-eight-spotted
ladybird ( Henosepilachna vigintioctopunctata (Fabr.))
in China.
Insects and other arthropods can be divided
into several categories based on how they impact
the crop: (i) chewing insects affecting the foliage
and thereby causing yield loss; (ii) chewing in-
sects in the soil that cause yield loss by trimming
roots; (iii) sucking insects that cause yield loss
and in many cases transmit severely damaging
plant pathogens; and (iv) chewing insects that
cause direct damage to tubers. In addition, in
the food processing industry such as French fry
production, insects and insect parts can be con-
sidered contaminants in finished products.
The types of insects and insect-related
problems of greatest concern for any given
production region or situation are related to the
end-use markets (e.g. subsistence agriculture,
table stock, processing, long-term storage, etc.)
and the level of industrialization and access to
insecticides and other crop protection technol-
ogy. For example, potato tuberworm can be a
pest of life-threatening proportions for sub-
sistence farmers using rustic storage for food
preservation, whereas it is a pest controlled eas-
ily by one or two well-timed insecticide treat-
ments for technologically advanced farms
with refrigerated storage. Conversely, an aphid-
related disease such as Potato virus Y (PVY) may
be a minor yield-reducing concern for subsist-
ence farming, but represents a nearly intractable
problem and the difference between profit and
loss for technologically intensive farms.
Insect management can be a major driver
of the cost of production and/or the entire crop
production scheme. In low-technology produc-
tion systems affected by major chewing insects
such as the Colorado potato beetle or the tuber-
worm, extensive manual labor may be required
to eliminate beetles or to sort infested tubers, re-
spectively. Crop rotation and efforts to avoid
overlapping potato crops may be important
management factors that constrain total food
production. High-technology farms often face
 
 
 
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