
Read: more
about this research. Researchers
Develop Integrated Controls for Potato PestsBy Kathryn Barry
Stelljes May 16, 2001The key to protecting potatoes from
insects in the Pacific Northwest may be a combination of pest-specific
insecticides and biological control agents. Agricultural Research Service scientists in
Wapato, Wash., are looking for the best mix to help growers. The biggest threat is leaf roll virus, carried by green peach aphids. ARS
entomologist Lawrence Lacey is evaluating a fungus and a parasite to see if
they are more effective together against aphids. In other situations, the two
dampened, rather than enhanced, the effect of the other. Another combination--the fungus Beauveria bassiana and a strain of
the bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis--provides good control of a
secondary pest, the Colorado potato beetle. Although not usually a big problem
in the Pacific Northwest, researchers fear damage from the beetle could
increase as growers move away from broad-spectrum pesticides. Other research at the lab aims to find the best aphid-specific pesticides to
use in combination with the biological controls. An article on this research appears in the May issue of Agricultural Research, the
agency's monthly magazine. ARS is the chief scientific research agency of the
U.S. Department of Agriculture. Scientific contacts: Lawrence A. Lacey or David R. Horton, ARS
Yakima Agricultural Research
Laboratory, Wapato, Wash., phone (509) 454-6550, fax (509) 454-5646,
[email protected] or
[email protected]. Story contacts Lawrence A Lacey U.S. Department of Agriculture |