Potato moth (Phthorimaea operculella Zeller) regulation methods and reducing phytosanitary risks of its spread

Abstract

Potato moth (Phthorimaea operculella Zeller) causes significant damage both during the growing season and during storage of potatoes. The most effective and reliable method for detecting potato moths is the use of pheromone traps for the purpose of timely spraying with insecticides during the summer. It was found that an insecticide based on chloranthraniliprol, as an active ingredient of a new generation when applied at the rate of 0.2 l/ha, had a prolonged protective effect for 14 to 21 days. The biological efficiency reached to 95.5 to 96.6%. Studies on the use of the biological product Lepidocid, P based on Bacillus thuringiensis (working solution at a concentration of 1.0%) for the treatment of potato tubers before laying for storage, showed that potato moth did not develop on the treated tubers, while in the control the damage reached to 3 to 4 points. Therefore, the implementation of the “Program for the localization of outbreaks of a quarantine object and the elimination of its population” developed by the Office of the Rosselkhoznadzor in the Stavropol Territory and the Karachay-Cherkess Republic, which, inter alia, establishes a restriction on the export of regulated products (potato tubers and fruits of vegetable nightshade crops) outside the region and in the zones of the Stavropol Territory free from the quarantine object, the developed system of measures to combat potato moth in the field and during storage will reduce the quarantine phytosanitary zones and limit the reproduction of the pest in the future.