Pests, diseases and crop protection practices in the smallholder sweetpotato production system of the highlands of Papua New Guinea
| Autor: | Ryosuke Fujinuma, Gunnar Kirchhof, Ramakrishna Akkinapally, William Sirabis, Geoff M. Gurr, Anne C. Johnson, Yapo Jeffery, Deane N. Woruba, Jian Liu |
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| Rok vydání: | 2016 |
| Předmět: |
0106 biological sciences
0301 basic medicine Cash crop Pesticide availability lcsh:Medicine Plant Science Euscepes postfasciatus 01 natural sciences General Biochemistry Genetics and Molecular Biology Crop 03 medical and health sciences Disease management (agriculture) Agricultural Science Survey Food security Agroforestry Rural violence General Neuroscience lcsh:R fungi Subsistence agriculture food and beverages General Medicine Cylas formicarius Eriophyes Crop protection Cultural control 030104 developmental biology Geography Biological control PEST analysis Elisnoe batatus General Agricultural and Biological Sciences Entomology 010606 plant biology & botany |
| Zdroj: | PeerJ, Vol 4, p e2703 (2016) PeerJ |
| DOI: | 10.7287/peerj.preprints.2394v1 |
| Popis: | Sweetpotato (Ipomea batatans) is a food crop of global significance. The storage roots and foliage of crop are attacked by a wide range of pests and diseases. Whilst these are generally well controlled in developed countries using approaches such as clean planting material and monitoring with pheromone traps to guide insecticide use, research into methods suitable for developing countries has lagged. In Papua New Guinea (PNG), sweetpotato is grown extensively as a subsistence crop and commercial production as a cash crop is developing. We report results from a survey of 33 smallholder producers located in the Highlands of PNG where the crop is of particular importance. Surveys of interviewees’ crops showed high levels of pest and disease impact to foliage, stems and storage roots, especially in crops that were several years old. Weevils (Curculionidae) were reportedly the most damaging pests and scab (caused by the fungus Elisnoe batatus) the most damaging disease. Most producers reported root damage from the former and foliar damage from the latter but the general level of knowledge of pest and disease types was low. Despite the apparency of pest and disease signs and symptoms and recognition of their importance by farmers, a large majority of producers reported practiced no active pest or disease management. This was despite low numbers of farmers reporting use of traditional cultural practices including phytosanitary measures and insecticidal plants that had the scope for far wider use. Only one respondent reported use of insecticide though pesticides were available in nearby cities. This low level of pest and disease management in most cases, likely due to paucity in biological and technical knowledge among growers, hampers efforts to establish food security and constrains the development of sweetpotato as a cash crop. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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