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DuPont Pioneer backs away from control claims

DuPont Pioneer says its Cry1F trait, Herculex I Bt, no longer protects corn against the western bean cutworm.

Cry1F was a corn borer toxin to begin with, not a western bean cutworm toxin, according to Chris DiFonzo, an extension entomologist at Michigan State University.

“The control was never excellent,” DiFonzo told Brownfield Ag News Friday, “and the wide-spread planting allowed for the rapid development of resistance.”

DuPont Pioneer Scientific Affairs Director Clint Pilcher acknowledges a decrease in susceptibility among western bean cutworm populations.  In a statement emailed to Brownfield, he said that farmers should not depend on the Cry1F trait for control and that they need to scout.  That’s echoed by Michigan State’s DiFonzo.

“In that type of situation you do have to scout and you have to realize that you may have to treat,” she said, “not just for these other insects, but maybe even for European corn borer, which is still out there hanging around waiting for bad things to happen.”

Syngenta’s Vip trait controls western bean cutworm, but not corn borer, according to Difonzo.

“And it does provide very good control up until now, excellent control, I would say, of western bean cutworm,” said DiFonzo, “that trait is not as common in the hybrids in the Northern Tier.”

Pioneer removed from its website all references to control or suppression of western bean cutworm for products that include the Herculex I trait.

DiFonzo says she struggles for an answer to what precautions to take to preserve traits that offer control of insect pests.

“I’m sort of just waiting for another shoe to drop, and that other shoe may be something like corn borer,” said DiFonzo.  “The populations of corn borer are still there and, in fact, are trending up as people grow a lot of non-Bt.  And we’re putting a lot of pressure on these toxins, so that, I think, will be interesting to see in the next 3 to 5 years what happens with that pest.”

AUDIO: Chris DiFonzo (7 min. MP3)

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