"No country without maize"

– If there is an open spot in a city in Mexico, someone will grow maize on it. Maize is the food base of Mexico, says John Larsen.

John, usually at the National Autonomous University of Mexico, is currently on a sabbatical at the Plant and Environmental Science Department at the University of Copenhagen in Denmark.

During the seminar, Johan talked about three examples on biocontrol in maize, involving interactions with mycorrhizal fungi, pathogens such as white grub larvae and Fall armyworm and natural enemies such as parasitoid Trichoderma fungi. All experiments were done in a lab environment.

– The challenge now is to use these results in real maize fields. Multitrophic interactions are complex with both direct and indirect plant mediated effects. This must be considered when developing biocontrol strategies in maize fields, concluded John.

You can watch the whole seminar on CBC's Facebook page here.