SAES-422 Multistate Research Activity Accomplishments Report
Sections
Status: Approved
Basic Information
- Project No. and Title: NC205 : Ecology and Management of European Corn Borer and Other Lepidopteran Pests of Corn
- Period Covered: 10/01/2009 to 11/01/2010
- Date of Report: 03/24/2011
- Annual Meeting Dates: 01/26/2011 to 01/28/2011
Participants
Hunt, Tom (thunt2@unl.edu), Univ. of Nebraska, Concord NE; Gassmann, Aaron (aaronjg@iastate.edu), Iowa State University; Kang, Jungkoo (kangb1@illinois.edu), University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign; White, Jen (jenawhite@uky.edu), University of Kentucky; Onstad, David (onstad@illinois.edu), University of Illinois; Tooker, John (tooker@psu.edu), Penn State; Porter, Pat (p-porter@tamu.edu), Texas A&M; Smith, Jocelyn (jsmith@ridgetown@uoguelph.ca), University of Guelph; Baute, Tracey (tracey.baute@ontario,ca), Ontario Ministry of Ag; Hellmich, Rick (Richard.Helmich@ars.usda.gov), ARS, Ames, IA; Sappington, Tom (Tom.Sappington@ars.usda.gov), ARS, Ames, IA; Hutchison, Bill (hutch002@umn.edu), University of Minnesota; MacKellar, Bruce (mackella@msu.edu), MSU Extension; DiFonzo, Chris (difonzo@msu.edu), MSU; Meyer, Rick (rmeyer@nifa.usda.gov), NIFA; Siegfried, Blair (bsiegfried1@unl.edu), University of Nebraska; Coates, Brad (brad.coates@ars.usda.gov), ARS, Ames, IA; Pueppke, Steve (pueppke@msu.edu), Michigan State University; Huang, Fangneng (fhuang@agcenter.lsu.edu), LSU; Cullen, Eileen (Cullen@entomology.wisc.edu), University of Wisconsin; Moraes, Silvana Paula (silvana.moraes@huskers.unl.edu), University of Nebraska; Wright, Bob (rwright2@unl.edu), University of Nebraska; Velez, Ana Maria (anamaria.velez@gmail.com), University of Nebraska; Buntin, David (gbuntin@uga.edu), University of Georgia-Griffin Campus; Whalen, Joanne (jwhalen@udel.edu), University of Delaware; Johnson, Holly (hollylyn@udel.edu), University of Delaware; Mason, Chuck (mason@udel.edu), University of Delaware; Weber, Patrick (pjweber@iastate.edu), Iowa State University; Buschman, Larry (lbuschma@ksu.edu), Kansas State University; Andow, Dave, University of Minnesota;
As recorded by Eileen Cullen, secretary (edited by Tom Hunt, chair).
Columbus, Ohio January 27-28, 2011 University Plaza Hotel 3110 Olentangy River Road Columbus, OH, 43202 614-267-7461
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Meeting began at 8:00 AM.
Local Arrangement Announcements: Ron Hammond indicated the combined registration fee for the NC205 and the NCCC46/NC205 joint meeting would be $75.
Administrative Advisor and NIFA Reports: Steve Pueppke and Rick Meyer discussed the budget climate at the federal level. Many unknowns remain. NC205 members noted that Ag is underfunded and formula funds are essential to rapid and effective response to local and regional problems.
Recap of Significant Activities and Influence: Many noted increased efforts to communicate Bt corn IRM requirements to growers, as IRM requirements are becoming more diverse and grower confusion is increasing.
Bill Hutchison indicated the ECB suppression Science paper has generated much publicity nationally and internationally, and NC-205 was mentioned in many media releases. Media pieces were fairly consistent and balanced.
Tom Sappington organized a symposium at ESA on the Bag Tag issue (US and Canada represented) reported on rough spots on getting blanket contracts in place, but that things were progressing.
Rick Hellmich reported on trip to China 2010 to give 2-3 IRM and non-target talks. China's budget is increasing (10X), particularly in transgenic and agricultural investment. He also went to Argentina for a GMO crops meeting. A core group is working to harmonize and standardize tier I testing for GMO crops. He also met with EPA to discuss IRM best practices modeling.
Tracy Baute indicated a WBC working group was formed. Her Baute Bug Blog had 7K hits, 4K unique visitors. Her twitter audience is mostly consultants and keen farmers. Pat Porter found the opposite experience. Texas growers are not blog focused.
Dave Onstad responded in public comment to recent EPA SAP (private) noting that 1) EPA does not model insect density (no density dependent mortality), only allele frequency; 2) EPA is not distinguishing between ECB an SWCB (i.e., SWCB cannibalism, no density dependence) in models; and 3) EPA currently believes that larval movement is occurring on daily basis. Onstad encouraged members to contact EPA if they feel EPA model assumptions are questionable.
Aaron Gassmann interacted with industry stake holders on whether CEW densities are becoming more problematic in the Midwest.
Tom Hunt indicated the Nebraska Corn Board has introduced Product Stewardship as a priority in their current RFP. He reported on trip to the Philippines to present at an IRM symposium. There was much concern over what products to register, the registration process, and how to implement IRM. He also organized a roundtable symposium at the Brazilian Entomological Society meeting and spoke at the Univ. of Brasilia.
Blair Siegfried finished a collaborative project with Philippine scientists on comparative susceptibility of ECB and Asian Corn Borer.
Dave Andow testified to the Danish parliament concerning reconsidering regulations for GMO. They have a big sector of grass seed grown in Denmark. They use GE to modify enzymes to understand phenotypic traits. If they see something desirable, they use genetic marker R&D approach.
Pat Porter creating a corn insect and IPM file, so send images to him.
Blanket Agreement Discussion: Several noted that because attorneys are involved, establishing blanket agreements can be a very detailed, slow process. If some Univ. get these agreements established, it would be very helpful to send them out to NC-205 membership. Dave Andow reported that Elson Shields found it helpful if industry provides source draft for Univ. to work with. Aaron Gassmann reported a smooth experience. Tom Sappington suggests communicating with the right person. Letter of Understanding from Pioneer supposedly will override current agreement. Tom Sappington will send a handout to NCCC46, NC205 with updated contacts. Overall, there is still confusion between Individual and Blanket Agreements. It's moving, it is just moving in fits and starts. Communicate with Tom Sappington and Elson Shields if you are running into complications.
NCR 327 Progress: Charles Mason indicated the document is almost complete. The Bt trait section is still being worked on. Chuck Mason is taking writing sabbatical spring 2011 to finish it up. Need to figure out how to implement this as electronic media. If there are things that make sense to demonstrate, videos can be done, Smart Phone apps, keys, website, PDF. Question is where will this be housed and run. Pat Porter will be on committee to work this out with Chuck. ISU will be doing layout. Pat Porter, Rick Hellmich, Tracey Baute, and Chuck Mason will be the 327 Committee.
Discussion of NCCC46 and NC205 'Merger': Pros and cons were discussed, a major point being one is a funded research committee (NC-205), and on is an unfunded research sharing committee (NCCC-46). It was suggested that rather than merge officially into one group, it may be better to have the meetings coordinated and scheduled to have better overlap and time compression. The joint meeting could be cut to half a day, and in some years it may not be necessary. It was noted that NC-205 is a hallmark group, and should be keep separate administratively. It was decided that during the next three years of the current projects we work on condensing the meetings. Tom Hunt and Pat Porter will work on this for the 2012 meeting.
Invited Presentations: Brad Coates gave a presentation on the current state of and future trends for corn lepidopteran genomics. Chuck Mason discussed the current status of ECB pheromone races. Tom Sappington discussed the invasion history, host use, and gene flow of E-race ECB.
State Reports and Discussion, by Objective: Research, extension, and outreach reports were presented by state representatives to NC-205. Discussion ranged over a variety of NC-205 objective-related topics.
Time and Place Discussion" Two options were discussed: Omaha, NE or Louisville KY. Since group that meets first typically makes the decision, NC-205 will make decision for 2012.
5:00 PM Adjourn for Thursday, January 27, 2011.
Friday, January 28, 2011
Meeting begins 8:00 AM.
Continuation of State Reports & Discussion: Research, extension, and outreach reports were presented by state representatives to NC-205. Discussion ranged over a variety of NC-205 objective-related topics.
General Discussion: Tom Sappington discussed an effort to convince ARS to fund Bt/non-Bt area-wide rotation effort, and requested a letter of support for this type of research for a BRAG proposal (PIs: Sappington, Lundgren, Tooker, Krupke) due on March 2nd. The BRAG proposal would be complimentary to the area-wide concept. Letter is written in general terms - effects of area-wide management important to ECB ecology.
Tom Hunt basked for clarification on NC205 policy on letters of support, letters of comment, letters of warning. Does a letter of support need vote of Appendix E membership, or those in attendance at a particular meeting. It was noted we could take straw vote at a meeting, but the official vote needs to be Appendix E members. How would this affect potential reviewers? It may be better to note in minutes that group is generally supportive of research to understand ecology related to area-wide or large scale rotations of Bt/non-BT. Indeed, NC-205 generally is supportive of research to understand ecology related to area-wide or large scale rotations of Bt/non-BT. It was noted that this interest is directly related to the NC-205 project objectives. The group decided to not provide a letter under NC205 banner, but those in support were encouraged to write letters.
Pat Porter initiated a discussion on the irregular ear/kernel expression of toxins in RIB and how this may affect the development of resistance. Cross pollination is not significant for ECB not feeding heavily on corn ear, but it could be significant for Lepidoptera feeding extensively on the ear (e.g. corn earworm, western bean cutworm). It was noted that IRM does not consider the current suite of target Lepidoptera, such as western bean cutworm.
Return to Committee Business: Place and Time Committee report: A motion was made to suggest Lexington, KY as the 2012 location for the NC-205 annual meeting, held in the last full week of January 2012. The motion was seconded and approved by NC-205. They will forward that suggestion to the NCCC-46 Committee.
Nominating Committee report: A motion was made to confirm Thomas Hunt as Chair, and Eileen Cullen as Secretary for the next year of NC-205. The motion was seconded and approved by NC-205.
Tom Hunt will introduce NC-205 members to an NC-205 Wiggio site. The concept of reducing the NC-205 Chair term to two years (or 2.5 years) will be discussed during 2011.
12:00 Adjourn 2011 NC-205 Annual Meeting.
Accomplishments
PI-E Section Symposium: Reaching out across the bag-tag: Overcoming diversity of industry, university, and government interests to embrace public-sector research on commercialized transgenic crops. Entomological Society of America Annual Meeting. San Diego, CA, Dec. 12-15, 2010. Co-Organizers, T. W. Sappington and B. E. Hibbard.
Since first being commercialized in 1996, transgenic Bt maize has gained widespread acceptance for managing maize stalk borer pests in the United States. Since 2004, a cooperative research program has been established to evaluate resistance risk of D. saccharalis to Bt maize in Louisiana. Field surveys have documented the overwintering, distribution, and population structures of maize stalk borer species in the state. Unlike any other regions of the United States where O. nubilalis/D. grandiosella are the major maize stalk boring pests, our survey showed that D. saccharalis is the dominant species in many areas of the mid-south region, especially in Louisiana.
A landmark accomplishment of the Louisiana research program was the detection of a major Bt resistance allele in a 2004 field population of D. saccharalis. This was the first major resistance allele to commercial Bt maize discovered in any maize borer species worldwide. A D. saccharalis strain containing this major resistance allele has been established in the laboratory for future studies.
Results from studies in Louisiana suggest that the resistance allele frequency in D. saccharalis to the three pyramided Bt maize technologies is low in the mid-southern region of the United States, which should meet the rare resistance assumption of the 'high dose/refuge' IRM strategy.
A pheromone trapping network was implemented to determine the range and magnitude of western bean cutworm in NY. Unitraps baited with western bean cutworm pheromone were placed near corn fields to monitor seasonal occurrence and number of moths trapped. A total of 18 traps were monitored, augmenting a nascent monitoring network comprising 57 traps in 30 counties.
To assist with commercial production of Trichogramma for biological control of Lepidopteran pests, a device was fabricated to assist with separating parasitized from unparasitized host eggs.
Olfactometer studies showed that T. ostriniae was attracted to volatiles from corn leaf tissue taken from areas near to, but absent European corn borer egg masses. This suggests that induced plant volatiles may play a role in host finding. Results also indicate that humidity played a role in parasitoid responses; in our trials, lower humidity elicited an attractant response to host eggs; high humidity elicited an arrestant response.
Trichogramma ostriniae readily parasitized western bean cutworm eggs under laboratory conditions suggesting that biological control with egg parasitoids may be a feasible. Because the cutworm eggs are relatively large, 3 to 6 adult T. ostriniae emerged per egg.
Preliminary analysis of feral Trichogramma, collected from field sites where releases had occurred in previous years, showed T. ostriniae in 6 samples of 21 Ostrinia nubilalis egg masses collected. This reinforces that T. ostriniae may establish and provide some background classical biological control.
Quiescence, but not diapause was not observed in T. ostriniae placed out of doors in fall 2009. Adult emergence from outdoor eggs was protracted for up to 6 weeks after placement under warm conditions. This implies that quiescence may suffice and that diapause may not be obligatory.
Vacuum storage of host eggs resulted in substantial clumping, indicating that this is not a good method for prolonging the shelf life of factitious host eggs. When eggs were provided to Trichogramma in various spatial arrangements from single to highly clustered, there was no apparent difference in parasitism levels. This suggests that the standard method of sprinkling eggs onto a tray for parasitism is adequate and probably does not need modification to improve parasitism levels.
In general the two Bt-gene hybrids (VT3 Pro) provided greater protection from corn earworm in early and late plantings (Texas), but in many cases the single Bt-gene hybrids from Pioneer provided nearly as good control under the pest pressure encountered in the study.
Texas made two collections of fall armyworm larvae from corn in the Lubbock area and sent them to Nebraska for screening for resistance to transgenic corn. The Nebraska assay results suggested no increase in resistance to Cry1F.
Dave Andow made the keynote address to the annual meeting of the Japanese Society of Applied Entomology and Zoology was presented using data from this project.
Dave Andow made a special address to the Danish Parliament was delivered as a part of their deliberations over the regulation of biotechnology.
Laboratory results (Minn, Morey et al.) corroborated what is currently observed in the field as the overwintering range of H. zea in the eastern United States; approximately areas south of the 40th parallel. The research shows, however, that these areas are not lethal to overwintering pupae due to temperature extremes, but rather in the length of time spent at near zero temperatures.
Paula-Moraes and Thomas E. Hunt (EMBRAPA and Univ. of Nebraska) organized a roundtable 'IPM in the Age of Transgenic Crops: Are IPM and Transgenic Technology Compatible or in Conflict?' at the XXIII Congresso Brasileiro de Entomologia, September 26-30, Natal, RN, Brasil.
Various NC-205 members presented talks on IRM around the world (e.g. Japan, Philippines, Brazil, and Europe).
Impacts
- NC-205 members and others documented that area-wide suppression of European corn borer is associated with the wide-spread use of Bt corn (Science article: Hutchison et al. 2010). Benefits (14 year cumulative) are estimated at $3.2 billion for corn growers in Illinois, Minnesota, and Wisconsin, with over $2.4 billion of this total as a benefit to non-Bt corn growers. Comparable estimates for Iowa and Nebraska are $3.6 billion, with $1.9 billion for non-Bt corn growers. These results affirm theoretical predictions of area-wide pest suppression and highlight the economic incentives for growers to maintain non-Bt corn refuge for sustainable insect resistance management.
- Information on European corn borer dispersal and gene flow will provide decision support to regulatory agencies, in the U.S. and abroad, responsible for resistance management regulations for current and future transgenic corn targeting this pest. It also will be useful to university, government, and industry scientists and modelers trying to understand and predict rates of development and geographic spread of resistance to transgenic corn in European corn borer.
- Various NC-205 members presented talks on transgenic technology and IRM around the world (e.g. Japan, Philippines, Brazil, and Europe) which significantly contributed to their discussions and decisions with respect to risk assessment and IRM.
- The western bean cutworm has become the second most important lepidopteran pest of corn in Nebraska, and it has spread across the north central U.S. and into Canada. Current research findings helps farmers select appropriate management tools, will help explain why the western bean cutworm range has expanded, and will increase farmer profitability by providing improved management recommendations across ecozones.
- Information related to Bt resistance management of European corn borer provided by Siegfrieds lab (Nebraska) is currently utilized by most of the major seed and biotechnology companies to support registrations of transgenic corn hybrids. These data are necessary to the long-term sustainability of this technology. The development of these techniques has brought international attention to our program and will assist developing countries that have interest in utilizing transgenic technologies for pest management in developing their own regulatory policies.
- The review Regulation of migration in the oriental armyworm, Mythimna separata (Walker) in China: A review integrating environmental, physiological, hormonal, genetic, and molecular factors represents a thorough synthesis of knowledge on this important model species, and makes technical information available to Western scientists that until now has been inaccessible because many important studies have been published only in Chinese. The information will be valuable to university, government, and industry scientists and modelers studying migratory pest Lepidoptera in North America and worldwide.
- An acoustic egg separator was capable of cleaning up parasitized from unparasitized host eggs. Trials showed that unparasitized eggs were reduced from 20% to 10%, a 50% improvement. This method will help ensure that producers of Trichogramma market a product with a high level of parasitized eggs.
- Pheromone trapping showed that western bean cutworm was widespread in NY and that populations increased relative to 2009. This knowledge suggests that the pest will become well established in the Northeast and will complicate pest management in corn, dry beans, and potentially snap bean. This information is valuable to corn and bean growers who will need to know when to initiate scouting and intervention.
- The economics of using Trichogramma ostriniae were presented to approx. 50 entomologists with research and extension appointments. This will help them to advise growers on whether or not to integrate biological control in sweet corn. Commercial sales of T. ostriniae increased to approximately 1000 acre equivalents in 2010, demonstrating increased adoption of augmentative biological control in sweet corn and sweet peppers, mostly in the organic sector.
- Andow and Bentur (2010) is an extension of earlier work specifically on European corn borer and resistance evolution. This paper has caused some of the researchers in the Directorate of Rice Research in the Indian agricultural research system to alter they way they screen for resistance.
- Zeilinger et al. (2010) is a part of the objective on non-target impact assessment of Bt corn. This work demonstrates that in the upper Midwest, Bt corn does not have an adverse effect on earthworm populations in corn fields. This resolves a rather long-standing debate about potential adverse effects of Bt corn on earthworms, at least for northern temperate zones.
- Andow et al. (2010) found that farmers typically did not use in-field Bt corn refuges properly. These results have been used to support the need for mixed seed refuges, and have also been used to support the need for refuges outside of Bt corn fields. Interestingly these needs are mutually exclusive. This work was used in a recent Scientific Advisory Panel to the US-EPA.
- Engels et al. (2010) is an extension of work done in Minnesota and France on the frequency of resistance in European corn borer to Bt corn. This work suggests that resistance in European corn borer to Cry1Ab-Bt corn is rare throughout Europe, and has been used to justify commercial use of Bt corn in Europe.
- Milonas and Andow (2010) is a new direction for the research under this project. We found that male age had no effect on mating success, but that females had lower fecundity when they mated with older males. This work has implications for sexual selection theory and for the evolution of resistance to Bt corn, but these connections have not yet been fully explored.
- Andow‘s talks in Japan have contributed to their intensive discussions to revise risk assessment methodologies.
- Andow‘s address to the Danish parliament had a major impact on how they intend to develop biotechnology. The Minister of Agriculture indicated that he would ensure that commercial use of biotechnology would not interfere with the needs and rights of public sector scientists to conduct research in the public interest.