ARS | Publication request: INITIATIVES TO DEVELOP RESISTANCE TO WESTERN CORN ROOTWORM LARVAE

Submitted to: Corn Breeders School Illinois
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: March 5, 1996
Publication Date: N/A

Technical Abstract: Corn rootworm damage is responsible for an annual loss of over one billion dollars to the corn industry. As an alternative to insecticides for managing corn rootworm, a host plant resistance program was developed by USDA, ARS at the University of Missouri, Columbia, MO, during 1991. The first objective of this program was to identify resistance in corn germplasm adapted to the Corn Belt, but since this has not happened, our focus has been to identify resistance in exotic corn germplasm. We have tentatively identified some resistance in exotic corn germplasm and in the relatives of corn, Tripsacum dactyloides and teosinte. Currently, the most promising effort is to transfer resistance factors from exotic germplasm into adapted elite corn cultivars. At the same time, efforts are directed to do the same thing with germplasm from relatives of corn. This will reduce the economic loss due to corn rootworm.