Monitoring Potato Tuber Moth, Phthorimaea Operculella (Zeller), on Seed Potato at Farmers DLS and Potato Farms of Different districts of Shoa, oromia; Ethiopia

This study provides information on the highest infestation of potato tuber moth,Phthorimaea operculella, in potato fields and in storage of different weredas in Showa, Oromia, Ethiopia. Intensive survey has been done to monitor PTM at larval stage populations and tuber damage symptom from 2015 to 2017 cropping seasons. The combined data show that the maximum infestation was at shashemene 78% and the minimum was from Jeldu (<1%) as observed at DLS condition in terms of tuber damage. Even though the infestation was low at DLS, it does not mean the same at field condition because we have got field infestation of about 15% on stem damage and 16% on leaf damage. The distribution of released potato variety at farmer’s level in selected weredas has been checked; at Jeldu wereda variety Belete, Gudene, Jalene and Menagesha. But at Dendi and Degem, farmers have only two varieties as option; so intervention work should be necessary at two weredas. In terms of the infestation level at Jeldu, the highest record was from variety Gudene followed by Jalene and that with the least infestation were from variety Menagesha. Comparing PTM Infestation in terms of leaf and stem damage, regardless of variety and location (wereda) PTM, larvae prefer leaf than stem if palatable leaf is available. Thus, PTM moths emerged from pupae of infested potato tubers that were harvested from the field and stored in DLS as a source to the next planting season. Therefore, removal and destruction of all infested tubers; Crop rotation using non host crops and fallowing could reduce infestation. The ideal seed source for potato in any variety is Jeldu followed by Welmera and Degem. It is clear that internal quarantine is not only the concern of the regulatory body assigned by the government but also all of us. Now a days cold store practice is a recent way of storage but PTM can stand at lower temperature  than  the  tubers and as such it would never  be  in  danger  of  being  killed  by  freezing and also, it is hard to have this storage capacity at local farmers and even at farmers’ union level. So it is better to seek other management option at DLS for small scale farmers. Farmers leave their potatoes in the ground until the skin is hardened. This practice  improves tuber  storage quality  and  reduces  spoilage,  but  it  delays  the  harvest and  increases normally the chance of tuber exposure to moth  infestation.