Influence of European corn borer (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae) feeding on various stages of field corn in Kansas

The impact of second-generation European corn borer (ECB), Ostrinia nubilalis stalk tunneling on yield reductions in corn, Zea mays L., was investigated for the Kansas production system. A significant negative linear relationship between grain yield and level of infestation in the bottom and middle strata was fitted for all plant stages, with the exception of bottom-dent in 1981 and middle-dough in 1982. The relationship between percentage yield reduction and cumulative corn growing degree-days (GDD) remaining to corn physiological maturity was described using a second-degree polynomial equation. Maximum potential yield reduction as a result of tunneling initiated by third-instar larvae was predicted to occur when ca. 35.7% of the corn GDD remained to physiological maturity.