Effect of Farm Management Practices in the Bt Protein Expression of Bt Cotton

Scientist Jikun Huang from Chinese Academy of Science and colleagues investigated  the effect of farm management practices in the Bt protein production of Bt cotton using farm field plot level survey data and laboratory tests.

Results showed that the expression of Bt protein differs significantly among varieties. Same varieties also exhibited different Bt protein expressions among villages and among farms in the same village. Furthermore, econometric analyses show that farm management practices such as applications of phosphate and potassium fertilizers, and manure, have significant positive effects on Bt protein expression in farmer's fields. When compared with previous studies showing that nitrogen fertilizer has a positive impact on expression of Bt protein, the latest findings showed that nitrogen fertilizer has no significant effect on the expression of Bt protein in farmer's fields. On the other hand, the expression of Bt protein has a positive relationship with phosphate fertilizer, potassium fertilizer, and manure application.

Read the abstact at Transgenic Research: http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11248-013-9775-7.