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I have recently begun a graduate
program at Penn State to help work on a collaborative project that includes
Penn State, the University of Maryland, and Cornell University to begin to
access the economic value of many insect-resistant corn hybrids, otherwise
known as Bt-corn.
Corn growers in the Northeast lose over
$100 million each year to European corn borer infestations. In the past, it has
been expensive and difficult to control for European corn borer with
conventional insecticides ($15-$20 per acre), and often times without any
economic return. In contrast, recent Bt technology has provided a relatively
low cost alternative ($7-$10 per acre) with extraordinary pest control. Field
trials have shown that Bt-corn provides good yield protection at moderate and
high infestations of European corn borer. However, at minimal infestations, the
economic benefit of Bt-corn is unclear.
Principal investigators on the project
that I am working with include Dennis Calvin, Jeff Hyde, Gretchen Kuldau, Greg
Roth, and Del Voight (Penn State) and Robert Kratochvil (University of
Maryland) and John Losey (Cornell). We will investigate the economic value of
Bt-corn and how it could fit into an IPM program for the Northeast corn
producer. We will compare Bt hybrids, their near isolines (same genetics but
without Bt), and popular traditional hybrids from 5 prominent seed companies
sold within the Northeast. In addition, the investigators will be evaluating
the different hybrids on numerous characteristics ranging from yield and test
weight to toxins and disease.
So far, two years of information has
been collected, with the third and final year of the experiment being planted
this spring. The field trials have been grown at 2 locations in Maryland, and 4
locations in Pennsylvania. Preliminary interpretations are indicating a yield
advantage to using Bt-corn of about 8 bushels per acre, however this value
varied among locations and years. For example, during the year 2001, a trial
that was grown in Hershey, PA had a high infestation of European corn borer and
consequently the Bt-hybrids yielded a 12 bushel per acre advantage over their
isolines. Alternatively at the same location in 2000, a slightly lower
infestation occurred, and the Bt-hybrids did not provide any advantage.
Concurrently, an interesting trend that is appearing in this study is that
Bt-corn takes longer to dry down as compared to conventional hybrids. At
harvest, Bt-hybrids are exhibiting between 0.1% and 3% differences in moisture
content, depending on the location. Averaged over all sites, the Bt-hybrids
have been about 0.9 % wetter. Harvesting at a high moisture can lead to
increased drying costs or may call for harvest dates to be delayed slightly. In
addition, we have found no differences among the test weights of Bt-hybrids and
their isolines. Ears and grain from the plots is currently being evaluated for
ear molds and mycotoxin levels.
Farmers have identified research on the
use of genetically altered crops for pest management as a top priority in
previous IPM surveys. The results of this multi-year study will be provided to
extension agents and industry personnel as well. We are also planning to
develop an extension publication and conduct several field days next year that
will explain the project results in more detail. |
