Sixth World Potato Congress 2006, Boise , Idaho, USA

Symposium on Integrated Pest Management for the Potato Tuber Moth
A Potato Pest of Global Proportions Monday, August 21, 2006 8:00 AM – 12:00 PM

Potato (Solanum tuberosum) is nutritious and highly productive, but losses through pests and diseases during the cropping period and storage are estimated to cause up to 32% losses in some countries. In an attempt to keep losses down, potato farmers spend approximately US $ 1 billion annually on pesticides worldwide.

The potato tuber moth (PTM) (Phthorimaea operculella Zeller), which originated in tropical mountainous regions of South America, is the most economically important pest of potatoes in developing countries and occasionally it also affects other Solanaceae crops like tobacco, tomato or eggplant. Today, it has achieved a worldwide distribution and is a pest reported from more than 90 countries including some in temperate regions.

Larvae mine both leaves and tubers, in the field and in the store, making the pest rather difficult to control. Over the years, farmers relied extensively on the use of broad spectrum insecticides, including highly toxic organophosphorous compounds, carbamates, and pyrethroids to control heavy infestations. Chemical dust formulations and fumigation also had been a common practice in storage control in developing countries.

The unilateral use of pesticides often leads to serious problems of human exposure to toxic chemicals, residuals in food, pest resistance and through the disturbance of natural control of pests resulting in secondary pest problems. Therefore, over the past several decades, there is an increasing awareness to reduce the harmful effect of pesticides on the environment and a growing interest in safer alternatives through the development of Integrated Pest Management (IPM).

In this symposium, we will review and discuss the achievements made in IPM for the potato tuber moth. We kindly encourage authors to submit oral or poster presentations on the following topics:

1. Pest status and severity including farmers’ perception and crop loss assessments;
2. Pest biology, population dynamics and pest modeling;
3. Cultural control and plant breeding for resistance;
4. Biological control (inundative and inoculative);
5. Storage control; and
6. Implementation and adoption of IPM.

The potato tuber moth is often part of a pest complex in potato cropping requiring the development of a holistic approach of pest management to tackle various pests at the same time. Therefore, we also invite papers that reflect on IPM of potato pests including the management of the potato tuber moth.

The deadline for submission of abstract(s) is April 30th, 2006.

A panel of referees will decide upon the acceptance of the contributions based on the abstract. The decision for a contribution to be accepted as poster or as oral presentation is at the discretion of the panel of referees. For the submission of your abstract please give title, authors’ names and affiliation; the abstract may not contain less than 250 or more than 350 words. Please submit your abstracts to either or both emails.

Dr. Lawrence A. Lacey, Insect Pathologist, USDA-ARS, Yakima Agricultural Research Laboratory, Wapato, WA 98951, USA Tel. 1-509-454-4463; Fax 1-509-454-5646.

Dr. Jürgen Kroschel, Head Entomology/IPM, Integrated Crop Management Division, International Potato Center (CIP), Av. La Molina 1895, Apartado 1558, Lima 12, Peru. Tel. (51) (1) 3496017 ext.3070; Fax (51) (1) 3175326; Email:

To register online for the first World Potato Congress held in the United States, visit http://www.potatofoundation.com/WPC_2006/index.html.

Registration is now open!