The Agricultural Research Center of the INTA managed to sequence the genome of the leafhopper, an insect vector of diseases that in the 2023/24 campaign caused very serious losses in the corn, assured the Bioeconomy Secretariat, which noted that the progress will serve to combat the plague in the future.
And it is worth remembering that this plague that lurked The 2023-2024 campaign “ate” more than US$2,000 million in exports. Due to the damage caused by the extraordinary growth in the population of these insects, the Rosario Stock Exchange had to cut its estimate for 2023/24 corn production by 20% to 47.5 million tons.
Experts pointed out that the unusual number of leafhoppers seen in the fields in recent months is due to the few frosts reported during the winter of 2023.
The insect population is normally limited by temperatures around 0 degrees Celsius.
Development can help improve corn genetics
“This research will provide information to understand the biology, distribution and evolution of the insect, which will help predict and mitigate future outbreaks and epidemics,” The Government said in a statement, and confirmed that INTA’s achievement is the first worldwide.
The development can also help improve corn genetics as “it could be possible to understand aspects such as the insect’s immunity genes (…) as well as genes associated with its interaction with infected plants and pathogens,” explained the Bioeconomy Secretariat.
A report issued last week indicated that The harvest is beginning to be brought forward due to the vulnerability of the stems after the leafhopper attack in the center and north of the country. “Unfortunately, it is observed that the data of the lots in which the harvest is progressing are not optimistic and may be the harbinger of a new negative adjustment for the Argentine cereal due to the effects of spiroplasma,” it was indicated.
This means that for the moment the May figures are maintained, with a record sowing of 8.89 million hectares and 1.42 million hectares that would not enter the commercial circuit.
Analysts have indicated that due to the serious losses caused by the leafhopper, the area planted with corn – the crop affected by the insect – would fall in the 2024/25 season, although an autumn/winter campaign with several cases of frost in rural areas improves the prospects for cereal.
Source: Ambito
