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Conservation of Natural Enemies
Sweet corn is a favored habitat for beneficial insects that feed
on caterpillar eggs and small larvae, corn leaf aphids, and sweet
corn pollen and help suppress pest populations. These natural enemies
include ladybeetles, insidious flower bugs, lacewing larvae, parasitic
wasps, and indigenous Trichogramma species. The methods described
here conserve these natural enemies. Studies conducted to evaluate
the effects of Bt and spinosad on a range of beneficial insects
and non-target organisms have shown that both have low toxicity,
although spinosad shows somewhat more negative effects than Bt [10].
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