Corn Earworms

When walking through the grocery store it’s easy to forget where all our food came from, and what it was like before it was prepared to meet consumer aesthetic expectations. One vegetable that this is especially true of is corn. Helicoverpa zea or corn earworms aren’t a very appetizing idea to think of, yet they are a relevant part of corn production today. This fact became evident to me after working for the maize breeding department this past summer. Around each field the department plants sweet corn as a border crop, and once it’s time to harvest, everyone can bring home a few ears of corn. Almost every ear has an earworm that you must remove before the cob can be eaten. Some ears are too degraded from the worms to be eaten at all, and this is where a problem lies for corn producers. This fact interested me in finding out more about what kind of research is being done about these insects. Helicoverpa zea is the true scientific name, but the insects are referred to by a variety of names including corn earworms, cotton bollworm, soybean pod worm, etc. Corn earworms are members of the Lepidoptera order and the Noctuidae family. This classification, among other characteristics, is based upon their ability to go through complete metamorphosis and habit of flying at night. Eggs are small with a grey or light brown coloring. After initially hatching the larvae of the earworm are an off-white coloring with black heads. Once they have fully matured larvae they have anywhere
To produce sixty percent more food by 2050 for a rapidly expanding population, one of the most important focuses for plant breeding is maximizing yields and decreasing any variables that negatively affect yields. On the flipside considering my Agricultural Sciences major for teaching, it will affect what I teach students for competition, and what they will go on to do in their own