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European Corn Borer damage
(John Obermeyer, Purdue University)
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Common Name: European Corn Borer - damage
See also: adult | larva

Scientific Name: Pyralidae: Ostrinia nubilalis

Status: pest of field corn

Damaging Stage: caterpillar

Injury: European corn borers feed on all above-ground tissues of the corn plant. Like corn earworms, they attack the tassels, ears, and stalks. Once they enter into the stalks corn borers form characteristic cavities that interfere with water and nutrient movement in the plant and weaken it structurally.

Action Threshold: First-generation corn borers should be chemically controlled when 75 percent of a corn stand is infested. Second-generation rescue treatment is warranted when eggs or larvae are recovered on 50 percent or more of plants.

Management: Chemical controls are effective if they are used preventively early in the growing season. Recently transgenic corn (Bt corn) has been developed that includes a protein from a biological control agent and offers significant improvements in corn borer control.

Purdue Extension Entomology, 901 West State Street, West Lafayette, IN 47907 USA, (765) 494-4554

Department of Entomology | College of Agriculture | Extension

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