Lethal and Sublethal Effects of Mineral Oil on Potato Pests

Abstract

Mineral oil is a product used to reduce Potato Virus Y transmission in potato fields. However, there is little information available about other effects that oil may have on insect pests of potato. To better understand how mineral oil affects potato pests, we performed a series of experiments testing the effects of oil on mortality, behavior, and development of potato aphids, Macrosiphum euphorbiae (Thomas) (Hemiptera: Aphididae), green peach aphids, Myzus persicae (Sulzer) (Hemiptera: Aphididae), and Colorado potato beetles, Leptinotarsa decemlineata (Say) (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae). All three species showed negative behavioral responses to oil-treated potato foliage. Oil treatment also increased aphid mortality. Colorado potato beetle mortality was not affected, but developing on oil-treated potato plants resulted in prolonged development and smaller adults. Additionally, oil acted synergistically with the entomopathogenic fungus Beauveria bassiana (Balsamo) Vuillemin (Hypocreales: Clavicipitaceae); Colorado potato beetle larvae were killed more rapidly when sprayed with both products compared with when sprayed with B. bassiana alone. Based on these results, mineral oil has the potential for expanded use in potato IPM programs.

Productivity and viral diseases of seed potatoes depending on the period of potato desiccation

“…In the case of the use of Vasil-Y mineral oil, PVY infection ranged from 2.1 to 26.5 %, and in the check areasfrom 49.9 to 85.7 % for the three varieties. These data show that there was a significant reduction in the degree of potatoes contamination with PVY due to the introduction of mineral oils [13][14][15].…”

First Sprayable Double-Stranded RNA-Based Biopesticide Product Targets Proteasome Subunit Beta Type-5 in Colorado Potato Beetle (Leptinotarsa decemlineata)

“…Colorado potato beetles were from a colony founded by adults collected from untreated potato plots at Aroostook Research Farm, Presque Isle, ME, United States, and maintained under laboratory conditions ( Galimberti and Alyokhin, 2018 ). Approximately half of the colony was replaced with field-collected beetles every summer to minimize selection toward adaptation to captivity and genetic drift.…”

“…Beetles were kept on potted potato plants in wood and fine mesh cages (50×50×90cm) in a research greenhouse under 16L:8D photoperiod. Eggs were collected and kept in a growth chamber (Percival Scientific Inc., Perry, IA) at 25°C with a 16:8h L:D photoperiod until larvae hatched, at which point they were either used in experiments or returned to the colony ( Galimberti and Alyokhin, 2018 ).…”

Data_Sheet_1.docx

“…The alignment file created by ShortStack was then parsed with pysam (Li et al, 2009) to obtain only those reads that aligned in the sense (SAM flag 0) or antisense (SAM flag 16) orientations. (Galimberti and Alyokhin, 2018). Approximately half of the colony was replaced with field-collected beetles every summer to minimize selection toward adaptation to captivity and genetic drift.…”

“…Beetles were kept on potted potato plants in wood and fine mesh cages (50 × 50 × 90 cm) in a research greenhouse under 16L:8D photoperiod. Eggs were collected and kept in a growth chamber (Percival Scientific Inc., Perry, IA) at 25°C with a 16:8 h L:D photoperiod until larvae hatched, at which point they were either used in experiments or returned to the colony (Galimberti and Alyokhin, 2018).…”