Evaluación del potencial de hongos y nemátodos entomopatógenos para el control biológico de la polilla guatemalteca de la papa Tecia solanívora (Povolny; FAM Gelechiidae)

Abstract

The Guatemalan potato moth (Tecia solanivora, Fam Gelechiidae) is one of the main entomological pests of this crop. It was introduced to Colombia in 1983 and was reported in the departments of Cundinamarca and Boyacá in 1991. This pest is responsible for an average loss of 30% of potato crops. In addition to the economic effects derived from this loss, environmental impacts are generated by the indiscriminate use of chemical insecticides for its control. There are effective agronomic, chemical, and biological options for pest management in the pre-harvest and post-harvest phase, however, there is no alternative to reduce pest damage effectively once it is established in the field during the phase. of tuberization. This project evaluates the effectiveness of entomopathogenic nematodes of the genera Steinernema and Heterorhabditis and of fungi of the genera Beauveria and Metarhizium in Tecia solanivora larvae. These nematodes of the order Rhabditida have shown a high efficiency for the control of entomological pests in the soil, mainly beetle larvae, due to their ability to deepen and search for their prey. Entomopathogenic nematodes have a symbiotic interaction with bacteria, so that in addition to the physical damage they cause to the host insect due to their parasitic action, they are vectors of lethal infections. On the other hand, the Beauveria and Metarhizium fungi are also widely used as a biological control agent for different species of pest insects from different crops where they have shown high effectiveness, however research on their use in potato cultivation is limited. In this project, bioassay protocols will be established for the evaluation of the pathogenicity of nematodes and entomopathogenic fungi. Based on the results, the potential of these pathogens for pest control will be determined in the production conditions of the Papera area of ​​Cundinamarca.