Corn rootworm feeding is one of the most devastating things that can happen to corn.
This photo of corn roots were from plants taken from a field in Central Indiana. Click on the photos to make them larger.
This was the refuge corn that actually had an application of soil insecticide, however, due to the dry conditions since planting, the insecticide had very inconsistent effects. This was a field that was planted late with a conventional corn hybrid without any insecticidal seed treatment.
The farmer told me that the corn emerged very consistently and was very uniform until about V4 to V6 stage when lots of height variance occurred. Digging roots and noticing the tremendous feeding from rootworms showed why so much growth variance was noticed.
Needless to say, this farmers fields of CRW traited corn looked very nice and uniform without any inconsistency.
Tex Young, CCA
Sales Agronomist
Great Lakes Hybrids