Abstract: Quality-enhanced corn varieties offer farmers incentives through added premiums that compensate for higher production and storage costs. The potential loss of these premiums warrants the establishment of new economic thresholds for specialty crops.
High-oil and waxy corn varieties are being examined for qualitative and quantitative losses due to attack from two principal corn pests: the corn leaf aphid and the European corn borer (ECB). It is believed that the corn leaf aphid can limit pollen production and significantly reduce yields in a Top Cross® production system utilized by high-oil corn growers. The ECB is a major pest and lower threshold numbers may affect qualitative factors that influence the premium associated with the specialty grains. This paper reports new economic threshold models developed to predict losses and economic injury levels associated with these quality-enhanced varieties.
The ESA 2001 Annual Meeting - 2001: An Entomological Odyssey of ESA