For those struggling with Corn Rootworm, Bayer Crop Science has been working on a solution to curb the effects of these destructive insects. While competitor's products can offer middling protection by using BT proteins, Smartstax Pro from Bayer compliments its use of BT proteins with RNA Interference Technology which changes the makeup of the root, which when ingested denies an essential protein to the rootworm larvae, thus killing the insect before it can ravage the roots.

For folks growing continuous corn, western corn rootworm is a serious pest that needs regular attention.

Purdue and University of Illinois researchers have discovered a novel corn mutant whose leaves are highly susceptible to attack by Western corn rootworm beetles, a pest that feeds primarily on corn silks and pollen. While Western corn rootworm beetles were previously thought to avoid corn leaves based on food-source preference, study of the mutant suggests that normal corn plants have an active defense mechanism that deters the beetles from feeding on their foliage.

Corn that contains proteins that protect it from insect damage has been grown in the U.S. since the mid-1990s.

Corn growers who find unexpected lodging during harvest could find that the problem is caused by Bt-resistant western corn rootworm, an entomologist with Ohio State University's College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences said.

By now you must have heard that for a few years corn growers in large portions of the Midwest have been battling populations of western corn rootworm that are resistant to YieldGard varieties of Bt corn.