Potato growers in the US looking to reduce the likelihood of a zebra chip disease outbreak have been forced to rely on calendar-based insecticide applications due to the unpredictable arrival of disease-carrying potato psyllids. Providing information about vector migration and overwintering habits is a new educational presentation now available.
Zebra chip (ZC) is a destructive disease of potatoes in North America and other parts of the world. It has been very costly to manage in potato crops and has caused millions of dollars in losses to the potato industry in the southwestern United States, particularly Texas. ZC is transmitted by the potato psyllid, which is the only known vector in potato (Figure 1). The disease was first recorded in Idaho and the Columbia Basin of Washington and Oregon late in the 2011 growing season. This region produces more than 56 percent of the potatoes grown in the United States, so the presence of ZC has the potential to be economically devastating.
Find the publication titled “Potato Psyllid Vector of Zebra Chip Disease in the Pacific Northwest” online here.
Source: A Pacific Northwest Extension Publication. Oregon State University • University of Idaho • Washington State University.
Researchers: Silvia Rondon, Alan Schreiber, Philip Hamm, Nora Olsen, Erik Wenninger, Carrie Wohleb, Tim Waters, Rodney Cooper, Darrin Walenta, and Stuart Reitz.
