Impacts of Bt Cotton on a Non-target Pest, Apolygus lucorum, in Northern China
October 7, 2011| |
Bt cotton has been proven to effectively target cotton bollworm (Helicoverpa armigera) in China. However, frequent outbreaks of Apolygus lucorum have been reported after the commercialization of Bt cotton in northern China. To investigate if these outbreaks could be attributed to Bt cotton, Guoping Li of the Henan Academy of Agricultural Sciences, China and his team of scientists conducted a study. They evaluated the impact of two Bt cotton cultivars (SGK321 expressing Cry1Ac + CpTI and GK12 expressing Cry1Ac) and their non-transgenic counterparts (Shiyuan321 and Simian3) on A. lucorum.
Results showed that there were no significant differences in the population densities of A. lucorum in the Bt cotton and non-Bt cotton plots. However, fewer A. lucorum were found on plots with pesticides. No significant differences were found in the net reproductive rates, generation times or intrinsic rates of increase of A. lucorum when reared on either Bt or non-Bt cotton cultivars. Based on these findings, the outbreaks of A. lucorum is not directly caused by Bt cotton planting. The researchers said that the most logical explanation for the outbreaks could be the decrease in pesticide applications.
Visit http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0261219411002717 to download the research article published in the Crop Protection journal.
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