Historically throughout the Cornbelt, adult western corn rootworms (WCR) were rarely found outside of cornfields in large numbers. Today, over a large portion of the eastern Cornbelt WCR adults are abundant outside of corn in crops such as soybean, where they lay eggs and feed. WCR adults cannot survive on a diet of soybean alone. To avoid succumbing to starvation, WCR found in soybean fields must frequently return to corn to feed. The effect of mixing corn and soybean diets on WCR fecundity and behavior have not been previously investigated. In this study we reared field-collected larvae to adults in our laboratory to have insects of known age and origin. Adults were allowed to mate and feed on corn foliage for one week to simulate field conditions. Female beetles were placed individually in 1 of 5 corn-soybean diet rotations of varying duration. The effect of the corn-soybean diet rotation on fecundity was measured over a 36 day period. The influence that diet switching had on beetle activity was also measured.
Species 1: Coleoptera Chrysomelidae Diabrotica virgifera (western corn rootworm)
Keywords: crop rotation, activity
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