The 2005 ESA Annual Meeting and Exhibition
December 15-18, 2005
Ft. Lauderdale, FL

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Saturday, December 17, 2005 - 10:36 AM
0813

Resistance to wireworms in different advance potato selections in Idaho

Juan M. Alvarez, Jalvarez@uidaho.edu, University of Idaho, Aberdeen Research & Extension Center, 1693 S 2700 W, Aberdeen, ID and Richard G. Novy, rnovy@uidaho.edu, USDA-ARS, Aberdeen R&E Center, 1693 S 2700 W, Aberdeen, ID.

Wireworms (Coleoptera:Elateridae) are the most important soil-dwelling pest of potato. Wireworm can feed upon seed pieces during the spring and subsequently burrow into developing tubers in the summer resulting in crop losses of 5-25% in Idaho. Growers in the U.S. rely on a few registered organophosphate and carbamate insecticides, which are not always effective for control of wireworms; their continued use in the future is questionable in that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is reviewing their use on potato and may not re-register these insecticides. Plant resistance to insect pests is an important component in many successful IPM programs. Evaluation of different potato selections in Idaho in the last three years shows promising results. Several breeding selections presented equal or lower wireworm damage than the Russet Burbank tubers treated with insecticides. These germplasm lines have proved useful for potato variety development and the highly resistant lines to wireworm were also found to be resistant in other states. Some of the resistant lines have shown acceptable levels of total tuber glycoalkaloids and yet they show levels of resistance similar to current chemical control methods for wireworm.


Species 1: Coleoptera Elateridae Limonius californicus (sugarbeet wireworm)
Species 2: Coleoptera Elateridae Limonius canus (Pacific Coast wireworm)
Species 3: Coleoptera Elateridae Ctenicera pruinina (Great Basin wireworm)
Keywords: wireworm, potato