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New IPM Grant to Determine Economic Value of Bt Corn - October 2001
October 16, 2001
UNIVERSITY PARK, PA -- The European corn borer causes Northeast farmers over $100 million per year in lost yield in field corn. A new grant recently award to researchers at Penn State, New York and Maryland will allow growers to determine if Bt-corn hybrids that have built in protection against such insect pests are a good economic value.
Insecticide programs to control European corn borer populations prior to the introduction of Bt-corn hybrids are expensive ($15-$20 per acre), difficult to time properly, and seldom provide economic returns, says Dennis Calvin, co-principle investigator and professor of Entomology at Penn State. By contrast, Bt-corn offers a relatively low cost alternative that is highly effective at controlling the pest. "In 2000, it was estimated that 20 to 30 percent of all new corn acreage in the United State was planted to a Bt-corn hybrid. Bt-corn has been shown to provide good yield protection when European corn borer populations are at moderate to high densities, but at low densities, however, the economic value of Bt-corn has been questionable," explains Calvin.
Calvin and co-principle investigators Greg Roth, Gretchen Kuldau, Del Voight and Jeff Hyde (Penn State) and John Losey (Cornell University) and Robert Kratochvil (University of Maryland) will determine how Bt-corn fits into an Integrated Pest Management, or IPM program, and compare costs to the grower.
IPM aims to control pests -- such as insects, diseases, weeds and animals -- by combining physical, biological and chemical tactics that are safe, profitable and environmentally compatible.
The investigators are comparing the performance of commercially available Bt-corn hybrids that provide protection against the European corn borer from five companies, their near isoline (same genetics without the Bt gene) and each company's lead traditionally bred hybrid. This is being done to determine the economics of each hybrid in managing European corn borer, anticipating the release of transgenic hybrids with Bt for control of corn rootworm. It is likely that both genes will be stacked in the same hybrids and growers will pay a premium for each gene. The economic return to Bt hybrids will depend on the frequency of European corn borer population level over time and location. "If growers are using Bt-corn hybrids and do not need them, they are spending limited dollar resources unwisely," says Greg Roth, Associate Professor of Crop and Soil Science, Penn State.
The $100,000, two-year grant will allow Del Voight, Penn State Capital Region cooperative extension agent stationed in Lebanon County, to survey pest infestations in Pennsylvania. Then Jeff Hyde, assistant professor of Agricultural Economics and Rural Society at Penn State, will compare yield differences between Bt and non-Bt hybrids to determine the economic value.
Gretchen Kuldau, assistant professor of Plant Pathology at Penn State, will determine the amount of damage to corn plants from mycotoxins, which are left behind when the European corn borer bores into plants. "Mycotoxins can be very toxic to livestock that consume the infested corn, but mostly at sub-lethal levels," says Kuldau.
Answers to the public's concerns about biotechnology's effects on non-target organisms and human and livestock health are being addressed by the NC-205 regional research project (Ecology and Management of Stalk Boring Insects) and the National USDA Monarch Research Team. "If any of the current concerns about negative effects on human health and the environment by Bt-corn are substantiated, then it will be important to have solid economic benefits information for comparison with risks of using this technology," says Calvin.
Results of the research will provide information to extension agents and industry representatives alike. An extension publication for growers will be made available that will summarize the group's findings. "Information from the project will also allow researchers to develop a proactive extension leadership position in the Northeast and help growers take advantage of the new technology," Calvin explains.