Brief Summary of Minutes of Annual Meeting

NCR-46 Meeting Columbus, Ohio 26 - 28 January 2004 Monday Afternoon: Breakout into formal committees. Initial Business Meeting: Welcome by Mark Boetel (chair) and introduction of newly arriving attendees. Minutes were previously distributed from last year's meeting by Bruce Hibbard. Mark Boetel asked if their were any changes or omissions that members wish to be made, hearing none, Gerald Wilde moved to accepted the minutes as submitted, seconded, and approved by voice acclamation. Mark Boetel noted our joint-meeting vote that morning had selected College Park / Beltsville / Washington DC area as the site for our 2005 meeting. The dates will be the 23rd through the 26th of January. Mark Boetel indicated that he has requested Lance Meinke and Gerald Wilde serve as a nominating committee for the 2005 NCR-46 secretary position, and they would be reporting back to the group during Tuesday's final business meeting. The chair called for a report on the status of the Corn Rootworm Management Guide. Kenneth Ostlie spoke on the current progress of this document, and how the editorial committee was putting together some sections that needed further refinements. Mike Gray commented that the Regional Pest Management Centers could assist in the producing and paying for the final document after the editorial committee had finished their work. Mark called for any additional old business or further discussion before moving on to the state reports. Several people spoke up concerning the committee desire to remain open and to work effectively with our industry and regulatory agency colleagues; however, there was concerned expressed that the scientific exchange mission of the committee could be hampered by having completely open meetings with these groups. The issue where NCR-46 committee members were excluded from the SAP was used as an example of this potential problem outcome. How can we be asked by an agency for our committee's opinion and then be said to be biased proponents when we responded? After further discussion, a voice vote decided that the format should limit outside participation to just the open portions of our meetings to facilitate frank and open scientific exchange.

Abundance/Distribution (excerpted comments: please see state reports for full details) " South Dakota (Fuller) reported below normal rootworm pressures at efficacy trial locations. " Minnesota had continued problem areas with extended diapause and observed a problem with western corn rootworms in eastern portions of the state. " Ohio reported lower than normal numbers of rootworms and may have been related to heavy rainfall. " Ontario spotty problems with possibly the variant. " Nebraska indicated severe drought conditions may have affected abundance. " Illinois reported sweep net samples in soybean were collecting increased numbers of western corn rootworm beetles. " Michigan also noted an increase in the numbers of western corn rootworm. " New York high infestations of westerns were such that a possible plant growth response to Poncho seed treatments (even with heavy root pruning) enhanced yield potential. " Iowa noted variable infestations across state and some extended diapause problems. " Kansas displayed mapping and distribution data of corn rootworms and their movement in relation to landscape and refugia configurations. " Jon Tollefson discussed the spread and current status of the corn rootworm in Europe. Sampling/Dispersal " Bruce Hibbard noted 2 papers on larval movement were published and 1 other on its way soon. " Lance Meinke used rubidium as a marker on where adults go and referred members to the Nebraska report for more complete details. " Joe Spencer discussed dispersal from rootworm flights from 10 feet high towers and relating it to weather data collected. He also stated the likelihood of flight is related to atmospheric stability. For example, 1 meter high stability can initiate a flight response. " Gerald Wilde had 22 corn fields and monitored rootworm movement. Many of these fields were irrigated. In some central pivot fields the refuge placement was in the corners where no irrigation occurred. " Also, studies were conducted placing YieldGard in the middle area and evaluated movement away from different crops. Greatest in wheat. Move at a quicker pace across wheat. Intra-field movement 11 to 12 meters per day. Previous year's finding had shown 7 meters per day movement. Economic Threshold " Tim Nowatski and his coauthors have a manuscript in review that looks at the "node injury scale" and it includes support yield data. " Ken Ostlie presented a presentation looking at the 1 to 6 (Hills and Peters) and node injury (Oleson) root rating scales. Behavior & Ecology " Research by Laura Campbell at Nebraska involved sampling rootworms in several habitats and focused on prairie species (including 3 Diabrotica species). Lance Meinke indicated her work revealed that different rootworm species changed their host based on a plant's pollination. " Tim Nowatski discussed his feeding behavior research where he looked at Cry3Bb1, and purified Cry3Bb1 and found no suppression of rootworm in the range listed by Monsanto. " Joe Spencer commented that he had observed adults in dry wheat stubble are more active in their behavior. Tuesday (separate meeting continued) " Paul Mitchell opened the session with a presentation on: Effects of northern corn rootworm extended diapause and IRM on Mon-863. " David Onstad spoke on variant modeling. Rearing / Alternate Hosts " Bruce Hibbard indicated that he planned to address this topic when he spoke later that evening on Mon-863 survival. " Also, Bruce commented that most grasses are good larval hosts until later instars. Host Plant Resistance " Bruce Hibbard noted that he was working with fairly good nature resistance hybrids that limited damage lose to less than 1.5 nodes. Comment was made about using Martin Bohn (Univ. Illinois) exotic germ plasm. " French, Mihm, and Ostlie are continuing to find further resistant varieties and several are promising. " Mike Gray reported on his planting date research where 1 root rating lower injury was observed on later planted corn. " Yield impact of liquid and seed treatment were opened for discussion. Erratic performance was noted in several states. Some discussion on seed treatment failures generated several comments on possible "yield enhancement" (even in the place of significant rootworm pruning damage). Mike Gray asked Billy Fuller if he was still willing to coordinate a regional study on seed treatments to address this issue. Fuller volunteered to send out protocol with a simple list of treatments that would be workable for most projects. Discussion also favored a small number of treatments (5 was requested). Resistance to Insecticides " Lance Meinke spoke on what has happened since 1995. Aldrin resistance is still present in Nebraska rootworm populations. " Fitness issues were addressed on the intrinsic rate of increase on rootworm densities. It was noted that some Methyl Parathion-resistant rootworms were able to maintain normal egg laying habits. Row Spacing " Limited discussion was presented; however, Bruce Hibbard did make a comment about row spacing as related to an IRM issue. He stated that "larval movement across narrow row (22") is more likely than wider row spacing, but may not have a negative impact on IRM issues. Other Soil Pest " Michigan reported that the European chafer was an especially bad turf pest, but was also showing up as a problem in wheat and corn fields. It appears to be more of a problem in sandier soils. Beetles lay their eggs in soybeans or corn and can develop on soybean roots. Soybean root damage is regarded as being sub-economic. Chafers appear to be able to withstand harsh winter weather and may be very cold tolerance.

None reported.