Effectiveness of Repellent Plants for Controlling Potato Tuber Moth (Symmetrischema tangolias) in the Andean Highlands
Postharvest losses from potato tuber moth severely constrain seed quality in Andean smallholder systems. This study evaluated four locally available repellent plants—Ambrosia peruviana, Eucalyptus globulus, Artemisia absinthium, and Minthostachys mollis—applied as dried leaves layered within seed ba...
| Autores principales: | , , , , , |
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| Formato: | Artículo |
| Lenguaje: | Inglés |
| Publicado: |
MDPI
2026
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| Acceso en línea: | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12955/2997 https://doi.org/10.3390/insects17010024 |
| _version_ | 1855490419442319360 |
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| author | Villanueva Spelucín, Alex Escobal Valencia, Fernando Cabrera Hoyos, Héctor Antonio Cántaro Segura, Héctor Baroni Diaz Morales, Luis Alberto Matsusaka Quiliano, Daniel Claudio |
| author_browse | Cabrera Hoyos, Héctor Antonio Cántaro Segura, Héctor Baroni Diaz Morales, Luis Alberto Escobal Valencia, Fernando Matsusaka Quiliano, Daniel Claudio Villanueva Spelucín, Alex |
| author_facet | Villanueva Spelucín, Alex Escobal Valencia, Fernando Cabrera Hoyos, Héctor Antonio Cántaro Segura, Héctor Baroni Diaz Morales, Luis Alberto Matsusaka Quiliano, Daniel Claudio |
| author_sort | Villanueva Spelucín, Alex |
| collection | Repositorio INIA |
| description | Postharvest losses from potato tuber moth severely constrain seed quality in Andean smallholder systems. This study evaluated four locally available repellent plants—Ambrosia peruviana, Eucalyptus globulus, Artemisia absinthium, and Minthostachys mollis—applied as dried leaves layered within seed bags of INIA 302 'Amarilis' under farmer-like storage at two highland sites in Cajamarca, Peru (Huaytorco, 3350 m; Samaday, 2750 m), over 187 days. Within each site, a Completely Randomized Design with three bag-level replicates per treatment was used, and damage was assessed after 187 days as incidence of attacked tubers, internal damage severity and live larval counts. Endpoint data were analyzed separately by site using Kruskal–Wallis tests followed by Dunn's post hoc test with Šidák correction (α = 0.05). Across both sites, all botanicals significantly reduced damage severity and live larval counts relative to the untreated control. At the warmer, lower site, A. absinthium and M. verticillata achieved large effect sizes, with severity and larval numbers reduced by roughly 80–90% compared with the control, while at the cooler, higher site, larvae were not detected in any botanical treatment. These findings indicate that simple layering of dried leaves from locally available plants, particularly wormwood and muña, can substantially mitigate S. tangolias damage in highland seed potato stores and represents a promising, low-cost complement to integrated pest management, although multi-season and dose-response studies are still needed to confirm and refine this approach. |
| format | Artículo |
| id | INIA2997 |
| institution | Institucional Nacional de Innovación Agraria |
| language | Inglés |
| publishDate | 2026 |
| publishDateRange | 2026 |
| publishDateSort | 2026 |
| publisher | MDPI |
| publisherStr | MDPI |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | INIA29972026-01-16T15:57:19Z Effectiveness of Repellent Plants for Controlling Potato Tuber Moth (Symmetrischema tangolias) in the Andean Highlands Villanueva Spelucín, Alex Escobal Valencia, Fernando Cabrera Hoyos, Héctor Antonio Cántaro Segura, Héctor Baroni Diaz Morales, Luis Alberto Matsusaka Quiliano, Daniel Claudio Potato tuber moth Symmetrischema tangolias Botanical repellents Minthostachys mollis Artemisia absinthium Seed potato storage Integrated pest management Polilla del tubérculo de la patata Tangolias simetrisquema Repelentes botánicos Almacenamiento de semilla de papa Manejo integrado de plagas https://purl.org/pe-repo/ocde/ford#4.01.06 Papa¸ Potatoes; Control de plagas; Pest control; Región andina; Andean región; Lepidoptera; Tubérculo; Tubers Postharvest losses from potato tuber moth severely constrain seed quality in Andean smallholder systems. This study evaluated four locally available repellent plants—Ambrosia peruviana, Eucalyptus globulus, Artemisia absinthium, and Minthostachys mollis—applied as dried leaves layered within seed bags of INIA 302 'Amarilis' under farmer-like storage at two highland sites in Cajamarca, Peru (Huaytorco, 3350 m; Samaday, 2750 m), over 187 days. Within each site, a Completely Randomized Design with three bag-level replicates per treatment was used, and damage was assessed after 187 days as incidence of attacked tubers, internal damage severity and live larval counts. Endpoint data were analyzed separately by site using Kruskal–Wallis tests followed by Dunn's post hoc test with Šidák correction (α = 0.05). Across both sites, all botanicals significantly reduced damage severity and live larval counts relative to the untreated control. At the warmer, lower site, A. absinthium and M. verticillata achieved large effect sizes, with severity and larval numbers reduced by roughly 80–90% compared with the control, while at the cooler, higher site, larvae were not detected in any botanical treatment. These findings indicate that simple layering of dried leaves from locally available plants, particularly wormwood and muña, can substantially mitigate S. tangolias damage in highland seed potato stores and represents a promising, low-cost complement to integrated pest management, although multi-season and dose-response studies are still needed to confirm and refine this approach. Effectiveness of Repellent Plants for Controlling Symmetrischema tangolias and Phthorimaea operculella in Stored Potato Seed in the Andean highlands" was funded by the investment project 2361771: "Improving the availability, access, and use of quality seeds for potato, amylaceous maize, grain legumes, and cereals in the regions of Junín, Ayacucho, Cusco, and Puno (4 departments)", supported by Instituto Nacional de Innovación Agraria, (INIA) Perú. CUI: Código Único de Inversiones: 2361771 2026-01-15T22:58:22Z 2026-01-15T22:58:22Z 2025-12-24 info:eu-repo/semantics/article Villanueva, A., Escobal, F., Cabrera, H., Cántaro-Segura, H., Diaz-Morales, L., & Matsusaka, D. (2025). Effectiveness of repellent plants for controlling potato tuber moth (Symmetrischema tangolias) in the Andean highlands. Insects, 17(1), 24. https://doi.org/10.3390/insects17010024 2075-4450 http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12955/2997 https://doi.org/10.3390/insects17010024 eng urn:issn:2075-4450 Insects info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ application/pdf application/pdf MDPI CH Instituto Nacional de Innovación Agraria Repositorio Institucional - INIA |
| spellingShingle | Potato tuber moth Symmetrischema tangolias Botanical repellents Minthostachys mollis Artemisia absinthium Seed potato storage Integrated pest management Polilla del tubérculo de la patata Tangolias simetrisquema Repelentes botánicos Almacenamiento de semilla de papa Manejo integrado de plagas https://purl.org/pe-repo/ocde/ford#4.01.06 Papa¸ Potatoes; Control de plagas; Pest control; Región andina; Andean región; Lepidoptera; Tubérculo; Tubers Villanueva Spelucín, Alex Escobal Valencia, Fernando Cabrera Hoyos, Héctor Antonio Cántaro Segura, Héctor Baroni Diaz Morales, Luis Alberto Matsusaka Quiliano, Daniel Claudio Effectiveness of Repellent Plants for Controlling Potato Tuber Moth (Symmetrischema tangolias) in the Andean Highlands |
| title | Effectiveness of Repellent Plants for Controlling Potato Tuber Moth (Symmetrischema tangolias) in the Andean Highlands |
| title_full | Effectiveness of Repellent Plants for Controlling Potato Tuber Moth (Symmetrischema tangolias) in the Andean Highlands |
| title_fullStr | Effectiveness of Repellent Plants for Controlling Potato Tuber Moth (Symmetrischema tangolias) in the Andean Highlands |
| title_full_unstemmed | Effectiveness of Repellent Plants for Controlling Potato Tuber Moth (Symmetrischema tangolias) in the Andean Highlands |
| title_short | Effectiveness of Repellent Plants for Controlling Potato Tuber Moth (Symmetrischema tangolias) in the Andean Highlands |
| title_sort | effectiveness of repellent plants for controlling potato tuber moth symmetrischema tangolias in the andean highlands |
| topic | Potato tuber moth Symmetrischema tangolias Botanical repellents Minthostachys mollis Artemisia absinthium Seed potato storage Integrated pest management Polilla del tubérculo de la patata Tangolias simetrisquema Repelentes botánicos Almacenamiento de semilla de papa Manejo integrado de plagas https://purl.org/pe-repo/ocde/ford#4.01.06 Papa¸ Potatoes; Control de plagas; Pest control; Región andina; Andean región; Lepidoptera; Tubérculo; Tubers |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12955/2997 https://doi.org/10.3390/insects17010024 |
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