b'use in identifying insects but for potato beetle eggs it is. They start out as very light yellow and the closer they get to emergence the darker colour they get. Flipping over leaves, counting the number of egg masses and then the proportion of those that hatch is how you determine when to make that insecticide application. We want to time at about 50 per cent egg hatch because most of the insecticides are most effective on the early instar larvae. The larger the larva get, the more that they consume. We want to control that when theyre small. But if we apply at first egg hatch, then we have to make multiple applications to control the first generation. So, waiting to 50 per cent egg hatch ensures that we get a good amount of those eggs that are hatched and that we minimize the number of applications we have to make per generation. The reason we cant make one application and treat all individuals in thatThe wild potato relative Solanum okadae, which Colorado potato beetles will not eat. generation at the same time is because theyPHOTO: HANNA MCCOYemerge at different times or asynchronously. But waiting for 50 per cent egg hatch ispromising for our lab. These compoundsBut in turn, this will also decrease the usually the right thing to do. have also been noted as a component of somecarbon footprint of breeders and provide insecticides and rodenticides.an alternative to pesticides. Which in turn SS: How is the wild potato relativewill increase financial gain by saving on Solanum okadae resistant toSS: How can these findings becrop producing measures, as well as what CPBs? used to improve CPB resistance inwas previously lost to beetle defoliation will Hanna McCoy (HM):We did this bycommercial potato varieties? increase our yields. screening the foliar tissue of Solanum okadaeHM:The overall goal of my project is toAs I mentioned, cardiac glycosides are for many classes of compounds, and thencreate a commercial potato with Coloradoused in the medical industry. We still isolate hopefully finding a candidate compoundpotato beetle resistance. But more shortthese compounds from plants. By creating that was produced in the leaf. From there,term, were looking at creating DNAa potato that is able to produce great tubers, we were able to identify cardiac glycosides.markers for cardiac glycosides in potato andas well as have beetle resistance through These caught our eye because thesealso looking at the biosynthetic pathway ofcardiac glycosides, we now have a purpose compounds are known to limit heartcardiac glycosides in Solanum okadae. Howfor the vines that previously just went to muscle contractions, which makes themthese compounds are produced in potato haswaste. This dual-purpose crop provides toxic to animals. For centuries, these haveyet to be discovered. a whole new market for potato and will been isolated from the plant foxglove forAs I mentioned, finding cardiac glycosidesallow us to create a new source for cardiac the treatment of heart failure and cardiacin potato is a novel discovery. But also, theglycosides for the medical industry. arrhythmias. Two common cardiactarget in the beetle has yet to be looked glycosides that were originally isolated fromat for beetle resistance. On both sides this plant are called digitoxin and digoxin.of it, its a novel discovery. It produces a These are larger molecules, which makeslot of opportunity for breeders and for them very hard to synthesize. To this dayentomologists when looking at Colorado these compounds are still isolated frompotato beetle resistance. plants, as opposed to synthesized in labs forOverall, this project will hopefully medical uses.decrease the number of pesticides that have This was a really novel finding becauseto be applied to our fields. By creating aFor more information on Colorado potato beetle previously, it was not thought that cardiacplant that is resistant to the beetle hopefullycontrol visit spudsmart.com/the-future-of-glycosides were produced in potato, evenwe wont have to apply as many pesticides,colorado-potato-beetle-control-webinar/ and in Solanum in general. So, this was reallywhich is great in the eyes of the consumers.watch our latest webinar about it.SPUDSMART.COMWinter 202443'