New Strain Of Corn Resistant To Harmful Organisms - Brief Article

Nutrition Research Newsletter, April, 2001

The southwestern corn borer, Diatrea grandiosella, and the fall armyworm, Spodoptera frugiperda, commonly attack corn. These pests feed on the whorl, the tightly coiled leaves within the stalk of the plant, and move down the stalk, tunneling within the structure of the plant. If the larvae of these organisms feed on the bud of the plant within the whorl, the entire yield of the plant is damaged and lost. Agricultural specialists in the state of Mississippi estimate that the corn borer causes $1 million worth of damage in their state annually.

To help combat this problem, Agricultural Research Service scientists developed a new corn germplasm line that is resistant to the southwestern corn borer and the fall armyworm. The corn germplasm line has been termed Mp716 and was created through self-pollination of a cross between two other germplasm lines for eight generations and then selected for the sought-after traits. This new germplasm line was evaluated for a total of three years through infesting test plants with the whorl stage of growth using 30 young larvae and screening for damage days later. Mp716 was found to have only moderate amounts of damage, leaving some of the plant salvageable.

This promising new germplasm line will be placed in National Plant Germplasm System where it will be available for further research purposes.

J. Garcia. New Insect-resistant corn. Agricultural Research Service, USDA@http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/pr/ thelatest.htn. [Correspondence: William P. Williams, ARS Crop Science Research Laboratory, Mississippi State, MS. Phone: 662-325-2735. Fax: 662-325-8441. E-mail: pwilliams@dorman.msstate.edu].