Biotech Updates

India Approves New Variety of Bt Cotton

February 17, 2012

India's Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC) has approved the commercial distribution of a new variety of Bt cotton, which was developed through the collaboration of public and private institutions. The new variety is expected to increase yield by 30 percent compared to the yield of Bt cotton seeds that have been commercialized earlier. The developers came up with the new varieties by inserting insect resistance genes from Bacillus thuringiensis into local cotton varieties Sankar 6 and Sankar 8.

"Injecting Bt gene into Sankar is more environmentally friendly and is suited to our climate. We expect it to be more pest resistant compared to other Bt cotton varieties. It will give a bigger boll-size, and the number of bolls on each cotton plant will also go up," said Raghavendrasinh Jadeja, a progressive farmer of Bt cotton in India.

Get more information at http://article.wn.com/view/2012/02/16/Centres_panel_approves_new_Bt_Cotton_seed/.