Corn Rootworm Research Paper

Corn rootworms are currently a pest for over one hundred different host plants through out the country. Economically speaking, they do the most damage to corn crops in the Corn Belt. There are three main different types of Corn rootworm: Northern corn rootworm, Western corn rootworm, and Southern corn rootworm. They all have their own unique way to reproduce and affect the farmer’s crops. Northern corn rootworm has a unique life cycle. The female insects lay eggs in late August. Those eggs then hatch starting in May. After the egg hatches the insect is in what we call a larva stage. The larva for a Northern corn rootworm is a worm and feed on roots. That is why they are called rootworm. The damage to the roots can cause the plant tip over because it has poor structure and it can affect the crops ability to bring up the nutrients it needs to be efficient. The rootworm’s next step in its life cycle is the pupate stage. The insect will stay in the pupate stage for around two weeks where it continues to feed on the roots. It will then emerge into an adult. This usually occurs in July. When it is an adult it is a beetle and it tends to feed on the corn leaves. It there is damage to the corn leaves it will affect transpiration of the crop and it ability to capture sunlight. The corn plant needs
This is because the insect does not have the ability to survive in the winter like Northern and Western rootworms. They overwinter in the south as adults. The adults, however, are not active until the temperature reach 70 degrees Fahrenheit. When the plant is emerged the female lays her eggs at the bottom of the corn stocks. They take around four weeks to emerge to the pupate stage based on the temperature and degree-days. They feed like the other two-corn rootworm, the lava stage feds on the roots of the plant and the adult’s feds on the crop’s leaves, silks, and