2011 Corn & Soybean Performance Trial Yield Results
(Adapted from C.O.R.N. 2011-40)
With the late harvest we are all having, performance trial harvest and data analysis is running late this year. But the 2011 Corn Performance Trials are posted and the Soybean Trials are posted as of Tuesday November 29th.
See the Ohio State Corn Performance Trials: http://www.oardc.ohio-state.edu/corntrials/
And the Soybean Trials are at the links on the Soybean page of the Agronomic Crops website: http://agcrops.osu.edu/specialists/soybean.
Adapted from C.O.R.N. 2011-42
by: Thomison, Minyo, & Geyer
There were 11 transgenic (GMO) seed technologies or products evaluated in the 2011 Ohio Corn Performance Test (OCPT) (Table 1). More than 90% of the hybrid entries in the 2011 OCPT contained transgenic traits for Bt insect resistance and/or herbicide tolerance (Table 1). Nearly 80% of the entries contained three or more transgenic traits providing protection for both above ground (e.g. European corn borer) and/or below ground (e.g. rootworm) insects, in addition to glyphosate and/or glufosinate herbicide tolerance. Many of these contained multiple Bt toxins for both corn borer and rootworm (SmartStax, Genuity VT Double Pro, Genuity VT Triple Pro, Optimum AcreMax, and Agrisure 3122) which allow a reduced refuge requirement.
Some of the transgenic products shown in Table 1 provide suppression of other economically important insects in Ohio (e.g. black cutworm, corn earworm). For more details on insects controlled, or suppressed by various Bt toxins, in addition to events associated with transgenic traits, refuge requirements, etc. consult the “Handy Bt Trait Table” available online at http://www.entomology.wisc.edu/cullenlab/extension/xtras/PDFs/Handy_Bt_Trait_Table.pdf
According to the USDA-Economic Research Service (http://www.ers.usda.gov/data/biotechcrops/ ) in 2011, 74% of Ohio’s corn acreage was planted to GMO (transgenic corn hybrids (37% of total acreage planted to stacked trait hybrids, 13% to herbicide tolerant hybrids, and 24% to some type of Bt hybrid). The acreage of corn planted to non-transgenic hybrids (26%) was greater in Ohio than any other major corn producing state in the US in 2011. Of the 248 hybrid entries in the 2011 OCPT, 20 were non-transgenic (non-GMO).
2011 Ohio Corn Performance Test results are now available online at:
http://www.oardc.ohio-state.edu/corntrials/
Hybrids can be sorted by yield, brand, and transgenic traits online.
Adapted from Buckeye Yard & Garden Line: http://bygl.osu.edu
ASIAN LONGHORN BEETLE
TREE HOSTS:
- ALB can potentially infest a wide range of trees; however, they have a distinct preference for ALL maples including boxwood, Norway, red, silver, and sugar. However, just because a maple tree is dying does not mean the tree is being killed by ALB!
- ALWAYS apply the standard diagnostic axiom: "Don't make the symptoms fit the diagnosis; DO make the diagnosis fit the symptoms!"
OVIPOSITION PITS:
- Every ALB infestation starts out with female beetles chewing circular to oblong-shaped pits through the bark and down to the white wood of host trees. The pits are around 1/2" in diameter.
- Adults are only present in high numbers for a few months with peek numbers occurring in July and August, so new pits are chewed in mid-summer. However, the pits will remain obvious for about a year until the wound heals. Pits are often made more obvious in the spring and fall by sap oozing out of the wound and running down the bark.
- The beetles will only lay eggs (produce pits) on LIVING stems; they will not chew new pits into cut stems. So, new pits will not appear on firewood.
- Beetles will lay eggs from the top to the bottom of the tree; pits are as likely to be seen at eye-level as they are to be located high in the tree.
BEETLE EMERGENCE HOLES:
- Adult emergence holes are perfectly round and 3/8-1/2" in diameter; large enough to easily shove a #2 pencil into the hole.
- New holes will only appear on living branches and trunks or stems that have been cut for less than one year. ALB will not lay eggs on dead stems; however, we have a number of native longhorned beetles that do infest dead or dying stems.
- Since beetles lay eggs from the top to the bottom of a host tree, exit holes may be found high in the tree while also appearing at the base of the tree.
NOTE: there are also other "hole-makers" that occur in Ohio including YELLOW-BELLIED SAPSUCKERS (Sphyrapicus varius) that create 1/4" in diameter holes aligned in horizontal or vertical rows. There are also other wood boring insects such as the native clearwing moths, ASH/LILAC BORER (Podosesia syringae), and BANDED ASH CLEARWING BORER (Podosesia aureocincta), that create circular exit holes on their namesake hosts; the holes are very close to the same size as exit holes produced by ALB. However, the clearwing moth caterpillar frass looks like very fine sawdust, not like the coarse frass produced by ALB. Also, the moth caterpillars are "phloem feeders" so they do not tunnel into the xylem; the holes are much shallower compared to ALB exit holes.
COARSE FRASS:
- Frass is another name for insect excrement and ALB frass consists of very obvious wood shavings; it looks like "wood wool," or Excelsior packing material.
- The distinctive ALB frass collects on the bark, falls into branch forks, and drops onto the ground around the base of an infested tree trunk.
BRANCH BREAKAGE:
- Late instar ALB larvae tunnel and feed in the white wood (xylem) which causes substantial structural weakening of infested branches. This leads to a significant increase in branch breakage on trees infested with ALB.
- Always look at the ends of broken branches to see why the branch broke! Look for heavy tunneling across the rings of the white wood. One of the infestations in Worcester, MA, was discovered by USDA APHIS personnel examining the ends of branches broken after an ice storm.
Thinning tree canopies are NOT considered a reliable symptom of an ALB infestation. While ALB is a tree killer and infested trees will certainly loss their canopy just prior to dying, it is amazing how long heavily infested trees will appear healthy with no discernible canopy symptoms. Indeed, this is usually the most startling revelation for folks who first experience an ALB infestation; the trees just don't look infested! While maples with thinning canopies should be investigated (it's a "get out of the car" symptom), the symptoms listed above should match-up before such trees are declared to be infested by ALB.
The beetles themselves are very distinctive and have been used to reveal ALB infestations elsewhere in the US; however, descriptions of the beetle are not included here because ALB adults are all but gone for this season. The adults will not survive the winter.
If your diagnosis matches with the symptoms listed above, please call the Ohio ALB Survey Program at the following toll- free number: 855-252-6450. You can also report your find online at the following website: http://www.beetlebusters.info/.
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