Sweet potato is an important food crop that is grown widely in tropical and subtropical regions. Sweet potato weevil is the most disastrous pest affecting sweet potato plantations, causing millions of dollars losses annually. An effective integrated pest management (IPM) method will help to prevent economic losses, and it is crucial to understand the factors that contribute to weevil infestation and strategies that are available to overcome them. This review summarizes the (1) mechanisms of action of weevil on sweet potato and (2) contributing factors in weevil infestation, followed by (3) discussion on current IPM practices used in the different regions, including intercropping, entomopathogenic fungi and bacteria, sex pheromones, and pesticides. Lastly, it also focuses on (4) applications of advanced biotechnology and genomics strategies towards reducing weevil's infestation in sweet potato plantation.
Ipomoea batatas L. is one of the main crops in the world and is planted mainly for its tuber. This vegetative plant is hard to distinguish between their wide varieties during the harvesting period. We sought a general comparison of variations across different varieties of sweet potato leaves. A total of 6 different local varieties of sweet potato leaves were characterised for leaf width, length, thickness, area, shape, arrangement, margin, venation and the colour index (in L*a*/b*). The morphological characteristics of the storage roots were also found to be different for the different varieties. Hence, the leaf morphology can be used to distinguish the different varieties of sweet potato plant in Malaysia.
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