Efficacy of Certain Pesticides Against Potato Tuber Moth, Phthorimaea operculella (Zeller), Under Field Conditions

Mohamed Ahmed, Mohamed Abd El-Mageed, Hossam Abdel-Rahman Ezz El-Din, Rabih Ali and Tasneem Mohamed Elghareeb

Background and Objective: The potato tuber moth (PTM), Phthorimaea operculella (Zeller), is one of the most serious pests affecting potatoes, in fields and stores, in Egypt. In this study, the efficiency of a novel pesticide, sulfoxaflor 24% SC compared with two recommended pesticides, indoxacarb 30% WG and emamectin benzoate 5.7% WG, on Phthorimaea operculella under field conditions. Materials and Methods: The treatments were alone and combined of them at two applications, 15 days’ intervals, at their recommended rates according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Land Reclamation in Egypt against Phthorimaea operculella larvae, during the 2021 and 2022 summer seasons at the farm of the Faculty of Agriculture, Assiut University, Assiut, Egypt. The ANOVA was used to perform the analysis of variance and Henderson and Tilton’s equation was used to calculate the reduction percentage. Results: The foliage infestation in all treatments achieved a robust reduction of Phthorimaea operculella population when the maximal values were reported with emamectin benzoate+sulfoxaflor and the mean of reduction percentage for two applications were 70.5 and 72.5% followed by emamectin benzoate+indoxacarb (64.5 and 67%), sulfoxaflor (51.17 and 64.17%), emamectin benzoate (46.5 and 53.5%) and indoxacarb (44.34 and 44.83%) for experiments at seasons 2021 and 2022, respectively. Conclusion: The use of sulfoxaflor and emamectin benzoate was the preferred pesticide with less harmful effects on the chewing pests of potato plants under field conditions in Egypt.

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