First-generation European corn borer (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae) response to three conservation tillage systems in Minnesota

Plant injury and densities of mature larvae by first-generation Ostrinia nubilalis were examined in chisel-plow, ridge-tillage, and no-tillage maize Zea mays. Tillage plots were split with and without terbufos application and with and without Bacillus thuringiensis-permethrin application in all combinations. Chisel-plow suffered greater plant injury than ridge-tillage or no-tillage, probably because oviposition was greater in chisel-plow. Ovipositing females were not responding primarilty to plant height or developmental stage. Soil surface temperatures were higher in chisel-plow during the early evening when oviposition occurred; microclimate probably influenced female oviposition. Larval density was highest in chisel-plow maize that received terbufos. -from Authors