Recent News of Bt Cotton

 

About Bt Cotton:

Some strains of Bacillus thuringiensis produce protein crystals during a particular phase of their growth.

The crystals contain a toxic insecticidal protein that kill certain insects such as lepidopterans  (tobacco budworm, armyworm), coleopterans (beetles) and dipterans (flies, mosquitoes)

The toxin does not kill the Bacillus because the Bt toxin protein exists as inactive protoxins but once the insect ingests the inactive toxin, it is converted into an active form of toxin due to the alkaline pH of the gut which solubilize the crystals.

The activated toxin binds to the surface of midgut epithelial cells and create pores that cause cell swelling and lysis and cause death of the insect.

The toxin is coded by a gene named cry.

There are a number of genes acting against the insects , for example, the proteins encoded by the genes cryIAc and cryIIAb control the cotton bollworms, that of cryIAb controls corn borer.

Specific Bt toxin genes were isolated from Bacillus thuringiensis based on the crop and the targeted pest which is then incorporated into the several crop plants.

 

Recently released varieties:

“Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) has identified three Bt cotton varieties — namely PAU Bt 1, F1861 and RS 2013 — for cultivation in states of Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan. 

“PAU Bt 1 and F 1861 were developed by PAU, whereas, RS 2013 was developed at Rajasthan Agricultural University (RAU), Bikaner. While the PAU Bt 1 was completely developed at Punjab Agricultural University, the F 1861 and RS 2013 varieties were converted to Bt version by Central Institute for Cotton Research (CICR), Nagpur. All the three varieties carry ''cry1Ac'' gene imparting resistance against bollworm complex,” 

 

Current News:

Haryana grant NOC for field trial of Bt cotton

Haryana government has issued a noobjection certificate (NOC) to seed major Mahyco to conduct field trials on BG-2 RRF, a herbicide tolerant and insect resistant variety of Bt cotton. "India has allowed commercial use of BG-1 and BG-2 GM cotton in the country while, the approval for the BG-2 RRF has been pending at various stages. The field trials are likely for the North Zone. The available BG-2 RRF can provide protection against devastating pest attack such as “American Bollworm”