A new potato virus vector monitoring program

Australian Seed Potato Industry Certification Authority (AuSPICA) has introduced an innovative solution to monitor insect vectors in potato crops.

Passive suction traps installed in the field take samples of potential virus vectors, which are then sent to Intertek laboratories for rapid DNA analysis.

The data developed builds information on the presence of potato virus vectors during the growing season and in the long term builds trends on vector populations in potato growing regions.

The article appearing in Issue 10 of PotatoLink was written by Barry Strahan and Dr Nigel Crump from AuSPICA.