Biobased approaches examined in fight against zebra chip

Thanks to investigations by scientists-turned-detectives with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and other agencies, potato growers in the western United States and abroad now know the identities of the pathogen-insect duo responsible for outbreaks of the costly tuber disease known as "zebra chip."
 

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Potato Tubers affected by Zebra chip disease

• kaolin particle film, a reflective clay-based powder that can be mixed with water to form a protective barrier on plants. In tests, it disrupted psyllid feeding and egg-laying,
• biorational insecticides, including a mineral oil formulation that deterred 94 percent of psyllids,.
• Metarhizium anisopliae, a beneficial fungus that reduced psyllid eggs and nymphs by 45 to 67 percent,
• potato germplasm that showed resistance to psyllids in the form of reduced feeding by the pest, and
• monitoring of psyllid migration patterns to help predict the development of Zebra chip in potato crops—including via populations of the pest originating in Texas, where the disease was first reported in fields near McAllen and Pearsall in 2000.

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Leaves of zebra chip affected potato plant