LSU AgCenter entomologist James Villegas is helping manage insects across corn and grain sorghum.

In corn, Villegas’ work evaluates seed treatments for early-season pests such as wireworms and sugarcane beetles. His findings suggest these treatments are most valuable under favorable pest conditions but may offer limited benefit when insect pressure is low.

“When the condition is good and pest levels are low, the seed treatments are not as necessary,” Villegas said. “When conditions are favorable for pests, that’s really where you get a lot of return.”

He is conducting field trials to compare corn hybrids containing pyramided Bt proteins for resistance to stalk- and grain-feeding pests. He is measuring pest infestation levels, plant injury, ear damage and overall yield performance.

Villegas is also monitoring the corn leafhopper, an invasive pest found in Franklin Parish in 2025.

“We’re really on high alert not just because it could damage seedlings, but because it’s a vector for disease, which is as damaging as its direct feeding,” he said.

In grain sorghum, Villegas is in his third year evaluating foliar insecticides against sugarcane aphids and looking at insecticide efficacy in managing headworm complex. He plans to collect sugarcane aphid populations for use in insect bioassays.

In 2025, field plots were set up at the Dean Lee Research and Extension Center to test insecticides against sugarcane aphids. With very low aphid populations, Villegas couldn’t collect data.

“I’m planting grain sorghum in between corn just to increase the possibility of getting those corn earworms from corn to go to grain sorghum so that they could put out an efficacy trial for the headworm complex,” he said.

He also has some grain sorghum planted in weedy areas to increase the possibility of sugarcane aphids and to be able to check whether there is efficacy of the products for sugarcane aphids.

“So far, it has been very hard to put out trials for grain sorghum just because the pressure is not there.”

Below: LSU AgCenter researchers are working to manage pests in corn and grain sorghum such as, from left, corn earworm, sugarcane beetle and sugarcane aphids. Photos by James Villegas