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Physiological and yield responses of different types of maize to western corn rootworm larval injury
Abstract
Two field experiments were conducted in 1995-1996 to determine if different types of maize respond in a similar manner to western corn rootworm (WCR) larval injury. Variables measured from infested and noninfested plants included midday leaf photosynthetic rate (P$\rm\sb{s}),$ plant growth stage, plant height during vegetative periods, and grain yield. Responses were measured from a popcorn hybrid, yellow dent hybrids, and white corn hybrids. During 1996-1997, additional field experiments and a greenhouse experiment were conducted to characterize diurnal gas exchange responses of selected hybrids to WCR larval injury during vegetative growth stages. Results from these studies suggest that there may be a common negative $P\sb{s}$ response within maize to larval injury at low and moderate levels of root injury. The negative effect of WCR larval injury on gas exchange parameters appears to be most severe during midday periods. Data suggest that there may be an interactive effect of larval injury, environmental stress, and diurnal plant function that interact to impacts plant water relationships during midday periods of high photosynthetic activity. Significant reductions in leaf $P\sb{s}$ led to significant reductions in plant height at low to moderate levels of root injury; however, grain yield reductions only occurred at moderate levels of root injury. Plant growth stage was not significantly affected by rootworm injury during vegetative periods. Data indicate that maize can compensate for some level of larval injury without significant yield loss. The pattern of yield response to various rootworm injury levels varied among hybrids. This suggests that maize hybrids may inherently differ in their ability to respond to rootworm injury. A common injury-yield relationship may not exist within maize because of the complex interaction between hybrid, level of injury, and other stresses.
Subject Area
Entomology|Agronomy
Recommended Citation
Urias-Lopez, Mario Alfonso, "Physiological and yield responses of different types of maize to western corn rootworm larval injury" (1998). ETD collection for University of Nebraska-Lincoln. AAI9839152.
https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/dissertations/AAI9839152