The effect of plant barriers as a component of an integrated management program (IM) was validated and adapted in 1999, in Michoacan, Mexico, to control papaya ringspot, caused by papaya ringspot potyvirus type-P (PRSV-P). A split-plot design was established with two experimental factors: plant barriers and components of IM: IM without oil sprinkling (IM-O), IM without plant rouging (IM-R), and complete IM. Plant barriers (Hibiscus sabdariffa), sowed 20 days before papaya transplanting, and plant rouging delayed the epidemics onset in 19 days thus IM resulted in the highest yield (14.2%) than the rest of the treatments, but it was less effective than IM-O in vigor (4% in stem diameter). Oil sprinkling was phytotoxic and caused a 5.3% vigor reduction. The oil effect on the disease progress was not clear, since the epidemic intensity (epidemic onset X0 = 47 days after transplanting, final incidence Yf = 81% and area under disease progress curve ABCPE = 3220 %days) was similar to the control treatment. Plant barriers alone may not be sufficient to reduce disease incidence and spreading. The more abundant winged aphids known as PRSV-P vectors were Aphis gossypii, A. nerii, A. spiraecola and Macrosiphum euphorbia, which represented approximately 13% of the total captured aphids.
Papaya ringspot potyvirus type-P; Maradol; epidemiology; plant barriers; rouging
