Category Archives: 7th ATC 1989

Insecticide resistance in Diamondback moth in Barbados

Ian H Gibbs, Louis E. Chinnery and Jeffery E. Jones for the 7th Annual Technical Conference of the BSTA, 1989

The diamondback moth, Plutella xylostella (L.) (Lepidoptera: Yponomeutidae) is certainly one of the world’s most important pest species. It mainly attacks brassicaceous crops especially cabbage, Brassica oleracea L. var. capitata L., and cauliflower, B. oleracea var. botrytis L.. It is found north of latitude 60° in Iceland, throughout the temperate zone and in the tropics (CIE, 1967). Hardy (1938 cited by Ooi, 1986) suggested that it probably originated in the Mediterranean region which was also the evolutionary centre for the B. oleracea crops

All Brassicas contain glucosinolates which, when the leaves are damaged, give rise to bitter tasting and goitrogenic substances: isothiocyanates, thiocyanates, nitriles and goitrin. Selection, from the start of domestication, must have been for plants which were less bitter-tasting (Thompson, 1976). Unfortunately, this improvement in taste was at the cost of reducing the plants natural defense against pests.

Insecticide resistance in Diamondback moth in Barbados pdf

Present status of knowledge affecting E. postfasciatus (West Indian sweet potato weevil) management

Presented by E.H. Alleyne at the 7th Annual Technical Conference of the BSTA 1989

E. postfasciatus (West Indian sweet potato weevil) infests both stems and tubers of
sweet potatoes. It is not quite certain how the adults are
able to reach the tuber in the soil, but it is speculated that
they either travel along the paths created by the roots
and/or enter through cracks in the soil. However, sweet
potatoes grown during the rainy season or in irrigated
fields, suffer considerable tuber damage by the weevil,
despite the almost total absence of cracks in soil. The
biology of the insect has been described (Tucker, 1937
Alleyne, 1982). ’

Present status of knowledge affecting E. postfasciatus management pdf

Mechanising Animal Cane – By Colin Hudson

Presented at the Seventh Annual Conference of the BSTA, 1989

Introduction

It seems to be generally agreed by the sugar industries in this hemisphere that the use of sugarcane and by-products for animal feed is the most generally promising diversification of all the various ideas tried. Some years ago, Barbados was in the forefront of this development but we did not apply much of it. Others have now overtaken us. A few examples: