Plant materials are used in some traditional potato storage systems in developing countries. This indicates scope to develop botanical insecticides for field control of this pest. Such a technology would have wide utility and reduce the current, high level of reliance on conventional, synthetic insecticides. This three-year study has involved screening extracts from 164 plant materials of Australian, South Asian and European origin. Findings will be presented from laboratory bioassays in which adult oviposition or larval movement and survival have been used to select promising extracts. Sixteen extracts had statistically significant inhibitory/repellent affects and eight exhibited stimulatory/attractant effects. Larger scale experiments using intact plants, as well as field trials in a commercial crop, then tested the efficacy of spray-on and volatile dispenser technologies.
Species 1: Lepidoptera Gelechiidae Phthorimaea operculella (potato tuber worm)
Keywords: botanical insecticide
Back to Ten-Minute Papers, Section E. Extension and Regulatory Entomology and F. Crop Protection Entomology
Back to Ten-Minute Papers, Section F. Crop Protection Entomology, Subsections Fa and Fb
Back to The 2002 ESA Annual Meeting and Exhibition