INTERIM RESULTS FROM THE SWEET POTATO RAMP GRANT IN MISSISSIPPI.

Results from research funded by RAMP (Risk Assessment and Mitigation Program) funds conducted with sweetpotato growers in Mississippi during 2004 and 2005 are discussed. Insects were sampled on a weekly (2004) or biweekly (2005) schedule on land planted to potatoes with and without insecticidal input. Potatoes were harvested from each cooperator's field and evaluated for insect damage one or more times at the end of the season. Insect pest populations in Mississippi sweetpotatoes were relatively low during 2004 and 2005. Under these conditions, the percentage of sweetpotatoes damaged by insects was only slightly reduced by insecticides. Chrysomelid leaf beetles including flea beetles, cucumber beetles and tortoise beetles were the most obvious group of pest insects. The most prominent insect species in sweep net samples during the season was the sweetpotato flea beetle, however damage by this pest was negligible. The most damaging insect based on our evaluation of root damage was the twelve-spotted cucumber beetle. Root feeding by whitefringed beetles, white grubs, and sugarcane beetles was sporadic within the fields in the study, and damage by these insects was generally minimal in 2004 and 2005. Preliminary assessments of the effect of crops planted the year previous to the planting of sweetpotatoes indicate the following order of greater to lesser insect damage: pasture, soybeans, corn, sweetpotato, and cotton. Delay of harvest beyond the optimum harvest date tended to increase insect damage in marketable roots. Pesticide evaluations associated with the study indicate that some reduction in damaged roots may be derived from application of a soil-incorporated insecticide at lay by.