Successful Use of Resistance to Control Diseases of Sweet Corn. Jerald K. Pataky, Professor, Department of Crop Sciences, University of Illinois, Urbana 61801, and Patrick R. Mosely, Director of Sweet Corn Research, Illinois Foundation Seeds, Inc., P.O. Box 722, Champaign 61824. PLANT DIS. 79:1256. Accepted for publication 10 September 1995. Copyright The American Phytopathological Society. DOI: 10.1094/PD-79-1256.

Sweet corn (Zea mays L.) is a major vegetable crop in the United States, where over 325,000 ha (800,000 acres) are grown commercially each year (1). About 70% of the hectarage is processed (frozen or canned) and 30% is sold fresh. On-farm value of processed and fresh sweet corn is about $250 to $275 million each. Sweet corn ranks second among canned and frozen vegetables; 454 million kg (one billion pounds) of cut corn and corn-on-the-cob are frozen and 60 million cases are canned annually. Per capita annual consumption of fresh and canned sweet corn is about 3 and 5 kg (6.5 and 1 l pounds), respectively, which reflects a decrease of about 10% in the past decade.