SUMMARY

Viruses occurring in Serbia and other countries in the region are a huge problem con-straining seed potato production. At lower altitudes, in lowland and hilly regions, where table potato production is widely distributed, more than 50 % of healthy plants become infected with potato virus Y during one growing season. Under these conditions, seed pota-to production is hindered due to a high infection pressure of potato virus Y which spreads far more rapidly compared to leaf roll virus, virus S and other viruses hosted by this plant species. This study tended to clarify a frequent dilemma regarding the use of insecticides in pre-venting the infection of healthy plants with potato virus Y and leaf roll virus, given the oral and written recommendations from pesticide manufacturers, agronomists and scientists in the field of crop protection arising from a logical conclusion that aphid vector control results in virus transmission control. The present findings, which are in agreement with reports of authors from other coun-tries, show that the use of insecticides is ineffective in preventing potato virus Y which is nonpersistently transmitted by aphids from an external source of infection. However, insecticides can exhibit efficacy in preventing potato virus Y transmissio