Department of Protection

The department is engaged in study of methods and procedures of potato disease and pest management. It elaborates and projects integrated management of all potato pests. It is the authorized workplace for testing fungicides, insecticides, desiccants and sprout inhibitors for potatoes. It measures meteorological factors and predicts potato late blight occurrence. It monitors vectors of viral diseases and their species structure. It provides consultancy for agricultural practice

Main activities

• solution of research projects in the field of pest, disease and other harmful organism management (NAZV MZe ČR, MŠMT ČR)
• development of proposals on potato protection against all pests for individual utility types of potato growing
• investigation of economic importance of potato pests and diseases, their effect on yields and product quality, determination of harmful thresholds, observation of control economy
• study on pathogen resistances to pesticides and alternatives of solution
• monitoring of flights of potato virus disease vectors and distribution of other pests and diseases
• forecast of pest and disease distribution, warning of control treatments
• co-operation with the Czech Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Ministry of Agriculture of the Czech Republic, State Phytosanitary Administration, Central Institute for Supervising and Testing in Agriculture and agricultural universities

Topics of research projects

• spray programmes against potato late blight in connection with environment, meteorological factors and prediction of pathogen occurrence
• biological, chemical and combined Colorado potato beetle management
• evaluation of varieties in relation to requirement of chemical protection and environmental loading
• bacterial soft diseases and Colletotrichum wilt
• common scab of potato

Services offered

• potato pest and disease diagnostics
• registration and demonstration trials with pesticides
• evaluation of health state of potato crops and storages
• projects of complex potato pest and disease management
• monitoring of aphid flights and potato virus disease transmission
• prediction of potato late blight occurrence and updating late blight management
• oral presentations and consultancy in the area of potato pest and disease management and seed potato production
• ware potato sprout suppression

Head
Ing. Ervín Hausvater, CSc.

Staff
Ing. Petr Doležal, Ph.D.
Ing. Jitka Dejmalová, Ph.D.
Ing. Petr Baštová
Lucie Svobodová
Ing. Ladislav Večeřa
Zbyněk Vampola