USDA and UC join forces against potato psyllid

Scientists at USDA's Agricultural Research Service and UC Riverside will work together to develop a chemical attractant to monitor and manage the potato psyllid, according to an ARS news release issued today.

The psyllid harms the potato industry in two ways. Toxins emitted when the pest feeds causes psyllid yellows and an organism vectored by the psyllids causes a condition known as "zebra chip."

Zebra chip happens when sugars accumulate in some areas of the tuber instead of starch. Dark lines run the length of affected potatoes. In chipping varieties, these areas turn black when the chips are fried, creating a black, striped effect that gives rise to the name "zebra chip," according to the UC IPM Pest Note on potato psyllid.

Under a six-month cooperative agreement, UC Riverside entomologist Jocelyn Millar and ARS scientists in Wapato, Wash., will together try to isolate, identify, synthesize and test the specific chemical or chemicals that female potato psyllids use to attract mates.

"The agreement between UC Riverside and ARS is a pooling of resources and personnel that leverages Millar’s research on insect chemical ecology with the Wapato team’s behavioral assay studies," said the news release, written by Jan Suszkiw.

ARS scientists look at "zebra chips."

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