Ways to reduce harm to potato plants caused by virus carriers

Introduction. The research was conducted in the foothill zone of the Republic of North Ossetia - Alania in 2022-2023 to study the flight dynamics of aphids - virus carriers and their impact on the yield and quality of potatoes. The goal of the research. Study of the flight dynamics of aphids - virus carriers in the vertical zonality of the Republic of North Ossetia - Alania and their impact on the yield and quality of potatoes. The research methods. The methods used to count aphids (Mörike traps, Zykin scale), laboratory analysis of species composition and detection of viral infection (ELISA, PCR) were used. The experiments included variants without isolation, spatial isolation at a distance of 1000-1200 m and isolation with oat crops to assess their effectiveness. The Results. It was found that the peak of the flight of all species of winged aphids occurred in July, and the period of the appearance of aphids' flight mainly began in mid-May and ended on August 20. Analysis of the dynamics of the number of winged aphids by months showed that in 2022 and 2023, the maximum number of buckthorn aphids was recorded in June, July and August. It was proven that the minimum yield of the Udacha and Sadon varieties was formed in 2023 in the variant without isolation - 29.4 t/ha and 35.0 t/ha, respectively. The maximum yield of the studied varieties was formed in the third variant (spatial isolation by spring oat crops along a 100 m wide perimeter) on average over two years - 39.3 t/ha and 40.5 t/ha, respectively. Conclusion. The studies have shown that isolation strips of spring oats effectively protect potato seed plantings, reducing the number of aphids by 50%. In the foothill zone of the Republic of North Ossetia-Alania, buckthorn, buckthorn and large potato aphids are the most common. The yield of seed potatoes in areas with spatial isolation (1000-1200 m from commercial plantings) remains at the level of 3.0-8.4 t/ha, which confirms the effectiveness of isolation measures.