Biotech Updates

Effects of Bt Rice on Soil Arthropod Folsomia candida

January 6, 2012

Folsomia candida is a soil arthropod often used as a standard test organism in evaluating the effects of environmental pollutants in soil organisms. Yaoyu Bai from Louisiana State University Agricultural Center and colleagues investigated the growth, development, reproduction, and superoxide dismutase activity (SOD) of F. candida populations that were reared on leaf tissue or leaf-soil mixtures of two Bt rice lines and a non-Bt rice isoline.

They measured the various biological parameters such as progeny production, population growth rate, and SOD activity. Based on their findings, there were no significant differences between the populations reared on Bt and non-Bt rice leaf tissue in all measured parameters. This suggests that the Cry1Ab protein in Bt rice has no significant effect on F. candida.

Subscribers of Journal of Economic Entomology may view the complete article at http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/esa/jee/2011/00000104/00000006/art00017.