Wayne, ......just thought this might evoke a tragic chuckle, while considering the losing chess game of scientific farming. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Lon J. Rombough" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Thursday, February 28, 2002 8:39 AM Subject: FW: Corn Rootworms Pose First Challenge to Decades
> ---------- > From: "ARS News Service" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > To: "ARS News List" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Subject: Corn Rootworms Pose First Challenge to Decades > Date: Thu, Feb 28, 2002, 6:46 AM > > > STORY LEAD: > Corn Rootworms Pose First Challenge to Decades-Old Pest Control Strategy > > ___________________________________________ > > ARS News Service > Agricultural Research Service, USDA > Don Comis, (301) 504-1625, [EMAIL PROTECTED] > February 28, 2002 > ___________________________________________ > > For the first time, corn rootworms--the most damaging pest of corn in the > United States--recently changed their behavior and foiled crop rotation > strategies long counted on to break their destructive cycle. > > Now Agricultural Research Service scientists hope a soon-to-be- completed > 5-year cooperative research agreement with Monsanto Company, St. Louis, Mo., > will help them regain the upper hand against the pest. In the study, the > scientists are using a 2- in-1 cornfield strategy--a mix of transgenic and > nontransgenic corn plants--against the rootworms. The transgenic plants have > been genetically engineered to produce Bacillus thuriengensis(Bt) > insecticide. > > For many years, farmers could confidently reduce rootworm numbers by > switching their cornfields to soybeans every other year, planting corn > elsewhere on their farms. The rootworms would starve to death after hatching > in a soybean field the next spring. > > But, in recent years, farmers noticed that adult western corn rootworm > beetles were flying out of the cornfields to lay eggs in soybean fields that > would become cornfields the next spring when their hungry worm offspring > hatched in the soil. > > To make matters worse, more eggs of their northern brethren started taking > two years to hatch, timing their offspring perfectly for a 2-year, > corn-soybean-corn rotation. And western rootworms have developed resistance > to insecticides applied in fields planted to corn every year. > > To counter the pests' ability to adapt to various control tactics, ARS > scientists are studying the resistant-insect management strategy of > interplanting regular corn plants among transgenic corn plants. > > The idea is to delay possible development of resistance by giving any adults > that fed on the transgenic corn plants--and survived--the opportunity to > mate with other, non-Bt-challenged beetles, which fed on regular corn. > > ARS is the U.S. Department of Agriculture's chief scientific research > agency. > > ___________________________________________ > This item is one of the news releases and story leads that ARS Information > distributes on weekdays to fax and e-mail subscribers. You can also get the > latest ARS news on the World Wide Web at > www.ars.usda.gov/is/pr/thelatest.htm. > * Feedback and questions to ARS News Service via e-mail: > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > * ARS Information Staff, 5601 Sunnyside Ave., Room 1-2251, Beltsville MD > 20705- 5128, (301) 504-1617, fax 504-1648. >
