New Research Aims To Control Potato Pest

Burrowing into potato roots to feed, the pale cyst nematode Globodera pallida will obstruct nutrients and cause stunted growth, wilted leaves, and tuber yield losses of up to 80%.

The USDA’s Agricultural Research Service (ARS) is assessing ways to control G. pallida using what is called "egg-hatching factors," which are naturally occurring chemicals.

The ARS project, led by scientist Roy Navarre, is using chemicals naturally discharged from the roots of the potato into the surrounding soil to stimulate the G. pallida eggs to hatch when no potato plants are present. This leaves the juvenile nematodes without food or a host to reproduce.

This research project is part of a larger control effort of several universities, federal and state agriculture departments, and other ARS labs.

 A non-native species from Europe, G. pallida, has been found and confined to 17 fields and 1,916 acres in Idaho.