Rootworm

[Boo-yah]

Was talking to a local field rep last night…………..he said he’s seeing fields of BT corn about to tassel with major rootworm problems. His theory is BT corn does not produce the toxin protein that makes it rootworm resistant after v10. Is this true?

[cowboycorn]

Now, I'm not the best corn expert, despite what my username might suggest, but as far as I know, Bt corn was never touted as a rootworm control tech. If you want rootworm control, you need to look for the letters RW in the seed trait. Bt is primarily for the corn borer (stalk borer) and some think it controls to some degree a little bit of earworm damage.

JMHO

[Boo-yah]

Maybe I have a misconception??

I always thought RW, HX1, HXX,……….. are variations of the BT (Bacillus Thuringiensis) traits.

Pioneer literature.

Corn with Bt genes for corn borer and/or corn rootworm protection
help corn growers protect their crops from corn insect pests. Bt
corn products help corn growers to produce higher yields with
better quality grain and reduce pesticide use.
Pioneer offers several types of corn hybrids with Bt traits:
• For corn borer control – Hybrids with the Herculex® I
(HX1), YieldGard® Corn Borer (YGCB) trait, Optimum®
Intrasect™* hybrids
• For corn rootwormcontrol – Hybridswith the Herculex® RW
(HXRW) trait, Optimum® AcreMax™RW** products
• Controlling corn borer and corn rootwormwithin the same
plant – Hybridswith stacked Bt traits of HX1 and HXRW
(called Herculex® XTRA or HXX),


I didn’t specifically ask if the corn had the RW trait. But my perception of his commits were, he is seeing corn that should be genetically protected from rootworm with high populations and significant damage. I asked him if he thought immune bugs are appearing, to which he replied with the above statement. Just wondering if he knows what he talking about or they just came up with a new BS line to cover there back sides.

[cowboycorn]

From the literature you copied there, it still appears to be a separate event, the CB and the RW control. I also believe they don't tout it as complete control, but only supression, so with extremely high outbreak areas of RW infestation, you would surely still see damage. Bugs are like weeds, they are assimilating.