Midsouth Entomologist
Abstract
Soil insects are a limiting factor in sweetpotato production in the United States. Studies were conducted in 2006 and 2007 at the LSU AgCenter Sweet Potato Research Station in Chase, LA, which evaluated the effect of labeled preplant insecticide treatments on subsequent insect damage and yield of Beauregard, Evangeline, and Covington sweetpotato varieties. Sweetpotato producers commonly apply one or more preplant insecticides prior to transplanting. These experiments examined the efficacy of select labeled insecticides applied as close to transplanting as possible without the addition of postplant insecticide applications. The majority of insect damage during 2006 and 2007 was attributed to cucumber beetles (rootworms), Diabrotica balteata Leconte and Diabrotica undecimpunctata howardi Barber, and minimal damage was observed for other insect species. Total insect damage and cucumber beetle damage was significantly reduced in the three insecticide treatments evaluated in both years. U.S. No. 1 and total yield grade was significantly higher for the Beauregard variety compared to the Covington and Evangeline varieties, respectively. Yield data were variable between insecticide treatments; the non-treated control plots consistently produced a higher yield than did insecticide treated plots evaluated in this study.
Recommended Citation
Smith, T. P.; Hammond, A. M.; Story, R. N.; and Burris, E.
(2010)
"Comparison of Cucumber Beetle (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae) and Cumulative Soil Insect Damage in Three Sweetpotato Varieties Evaluated under Selected Preplant Incorporated Insecticide Regimes in Louisiana,"
Midsouth Entomologist: Vol. 3:
No.
1, Article 1.
Available at:
https://scholarsjunction.msstate.edu/midsouthent/vol3/iss1/1