Temporal dynamics of corn flea beetle populations infested with Pantoea stewartii, causal agent of Stewart's disease of corn.

ABSTRACT In order to better understand the epidemiology of the Stewart's disease of corn pathosystem, quantitative information concerning the temporal dynamics of the amount of pathogen inoculum present in the form of Pantoea stewartii-infested corn flea beetles (Chaetocnema pulicaria) is needed. Temporal changes in the proportion of P. stewartii-infested corn flea beetle populations were monitored by testing individual corn flea beetles for the presence of P. stewartii using a peroxidase-labeled, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Approximately 90 corn flea beetles were collected each week from seven locations in Iowa from September 1998 through October 2000 using sweep nets. The proportion of P. stewartii-infested beetles at the end of the 1998 growing season ranged from 0.04 to 0.19. In spring 1999, the proportion of overwintering adult corn flea beetles infested with P. stewartii ranged from 0.10 to 0.11 and did not differ significantly from the previous fall based on χ2. During the 1999 corn-growing ...