According to the public relations office of the institute, due to the importance of potato tuber moth, Dr. Mehran Ghazavi, along with Dr. Aziz Sheikhi and Dr. Laleh Ebrahimi, the faculty members of The Iranian Research Institute of Plant Protection, initiated to provide a biological control method using the insect pathogenic nematode to control this pest.
After plant viruses, Phthorimaea operulella is known as the main cause of damage to potatoes in the world. This insect is the most important potato pest in store under hot and dry summer conditions. Farmers use broad-spectrum insecticides to control this pest extensively and frequently. Application of these insecticides besides having impacts on the environment, are costly and endanger the consumers' health and cause the outbreak of secondary pests such as white flies, thrips, aphids and mites on the farm, which in turn makes further use of insecticides inevitable.
Due to high searching behavior, pathogenic nematodes of insects are one of the suitable options for controlling this pest. Steinernema carpocapsae the insect nematode with a concentration of 105 × 5 nematodes per square meter in storehouse with efficiency percentage of 72-69% can be used in integrated control of potato tuber moth, in addition its being a nature-friendly agent and lacking the harms of chemical insecticides.
