Corn earworms on the run?

10/25/2000-Agricultural Research Service scientists in Tifton, Ga., have developed four lines of inbred sweet corn whose silks have a natural compound called maysin that can kill corn earworms. Commercial crops of maysin-producing corn--still a few years off--could help farmers scale back their use of insecticides. In Florida, for example, sweet corn growers sometimes spray up to 40 times per season to ensure the unblemished, worm-free ears that consumers require. The maysin in the new lines is a natural defense restricted to corn silks, where earworms start their feeding, said team leader Neil Widstrom, with ARS' Crop Genetics and Breeding Research Unit