LINCOLN - Nebraska corn producers have a number of options to control volunteer StarLink corn in their fields this year, said a University of Nebraska agronomist.

No new StarLink seed will be planted this year because its manufacturer has pulled the genetically modified hybrid from the market.

However, many producers in the state can expect to have it growing in their fields anyway, thanks to kernels left over from the 2000 production year emerging as volunteer corn, said Alex Martin, an Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources weed specialist.

Those kernels can contain the StarLink trait because they came from StarLink corn planted in the field last year, or because they were produced by non-StarLink corn that was pollinated by StarLink corn growing in a nearby field.

StarLink is a corn variety developed by Aventis CropScience and approved for use only as animal feed. The corn was discovered last fall to have been inadvertently mixed with corn destined for the human food supply, prompting recalls of corn and foods made with corn. Among those were tacos, beer and corn dogs.

Although there is no proof that StarLink is a threat to human health, the Environmental Protection Agency has declined to approve it for human consumption because it contains a protein that breaks down in the digestive system more slowly, raising fears it could cause allergic reactions.

Nebraska ranked second only to Iowa in the number of acres planted in the year 2000 to StarLink. There were 41,529 acres, Aventis said. That represents about 0.5 percent of the 8.5 million acres of corn planted in Nebraska last year.

Volunteer corn emerging this year in fields planted to StarLink last year has a 75 percent chance of containing the StarLink Bt trait, said Don Lee, another IANR agronomist.

"Consequently, it will be difficult to avoid StarLink contamination in a cornfield that follows StarLink corn from the previous year," Lee added.

Because the StarLink trait also can be transmitted by pollen, volunteer corn emerging this year in a field next to a field where StarLink was grown in 2000 also may contain the StarLink trait.

Farmers who think their corn acreage might be exposed need to consider control options this year. Otherwise, they may end up with StarLink contaminated corn that cannot be sold for human consumption.

"In a field where StarLink was planted in 2000, the first and most important recommendation would be to not plant corn," Martin said.

"Volunteer corn is impossible to distinguish from the intended hybrid and there are no strategies that provide 100 percent control of volunteer corn, the level required to achieve zero contamination," he said.

Soybean is an ideal row crop to plant where volunter StarLink might be a problem because there are several effective herbicides available for volunteer corn in soybeans.

Also, Martin said, volunteer corn is easily spotted amid soybeans and can be manually removed.

No-till and ridge-till systems aid in controlling volunteer corn, he added. Under no-till, fewer volunteer corn kernels will germinate than in tilled fields.

A ridge-till system can move most of the volunteer corn kernels from the new corn row and deposit them between the rows where the resulting volunteer corn can be controlled with a cultivator.

The National Corn Growers Association and American Seed Trade Association have recommended that when corn growers buy seed, they request written verification that the seed they're receiving has been tested and is free of the StarLink protein.

More information on StarLink is in the March 23 edition of NU Cooperative Extension's Crop Watch newsletter, available on the web at http://cropwatch.unl.edu/Starlink.htm.

In addition, more information on biotechnology and corn is available on the web at the CornsTALK of the Nebraska Corn Board. For the biotech data, click on biotechnology.

The board has put out a biotech update called "Know Before You Grow, Know Where to Go" that provides helpful references for corn producers trying to make informed decisions, said Doug Boisen of Minden, chairman of the corn board.

The update includes a current listing of corn varieties and their approval status, along with advice from those dealing regularly with biotech issues in agriculture.

The update also was sent directly to 29,000 corn producers in Nebraska as part of the CornsTALK quarterly newsletter from the board.RTB

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