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Unpublished Paper
Population Dynamics of Corn Flea Beetles and their Importance for Stewart’s Disease of Corn
Iowa State Research Farm Progress Reports
  • Paul Esker, Iowa State University
  • Forrest W. Nutter, Jr., Iowa State University
Farm
Northeast Research and Demonstration Farm
Publication Date
1-1-2004
Abstract
Stewart's disease of corn, caused by the bacterium Pantoea (Erwinia) stewartii, is extremely important for seed and sweet corn producers. Substantial economic losses are possible in both types of production. For the seed corn industry, zero tolerance phytosanitary regulations greatly inhibit the ability of seed corn to be exported from Stewart’s diseaseinfected fields. Management often focuses on the role of the corn flea beetle (Chaetocnema pulicaria) vector that is necessary for both pathogen survival during the winter months and pathogen transmission during the field season. Research on the corn flea beetle is limited, especially in regard to its population dynamics during the growing season in Iowa and the proportion of the population that is harboring the bacterium. The corn flea beetle is the sole overwintering habitat for the bacterium; therefore, predicting the risk of Stewart’s disease in each growing season is based primarily on the probability of corn flea beetle populations surviving northeast Iowa winters.
Copyright Owner
Iowa State University
Language
en
File Format
application/pdf
Citation Information
Paul Esker and Forrest W. Nutter. "Population Dynamics of Corn Flea Beetles and their Importance for Stewart’s Disease of Corn" (2004)
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/forrest_nutter/2/