Insect resistance in vegetable crops carries a new urgency as insecticide availability and usage become more restricted. The European corn borer (ECB) long has been the most costly sweet corn pest in the northern states, with corn earworm (CEW) and southwestern stalk borer most serious farther south. Resistance to ECB and CEW, as developed by classical methods, will be discussed. Newer methods (such as RFLPs) should speed transfer of this resistance to commercial stocks, and also facilitate transfer of resistance from other species. Gene modification and endophyte exploitation are longer-term possibilities. Resistance must be free from association with undesirable traits, such as long silk channel length (r = 0.3 to 0.4), unless consumer and processor specifications change.
Comparison of two methods of breeding for resistance to the European corn borer in a synthetic cultivar of maize
