In India the bollworm resistant Bt cotton is the only commercialized genetically engineered (GE) crop, which made an impressive progress starting with one transformation event (Monsanto’s MON 531with the Cry 1Ac gene) in three hybrids on 50,000 hectares in 2002-03 which grew to four events in 131 hybrids, all developed in the private sector, cultivated on 6.2 million hectares in the 2007-08 crop season. That the majority of the farmers do prefer Bt cotton is no longer in doubt.
Bt cotton hybrids with the single bacterial gene Cry 1Ac, the Bollgard I of Monsanto or its licensees, predominate in India, although there is a small volume of Bollgard II, Monsanto’s hybrids with two staked bacterial genes, Cry 1Ac and Cry 1Ab, approved for cultivation in some cotton regions. The Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC), the Indian regulatory authority for GE crops, has recently approved the first public sector transgenic crops: one Bt cotton variety for commercial planting and four Bt hybrids for large scale field trials, all containing the Cry 1Ac gene.
The new medium staple cotton variety is Bt Bikaneri Narma (Bt BN) containing the Bt Cry 1Ac gene, developed by India’s Central Institute of Cotton Research (CICR), Nagpur, Maharashtra State and the University of Agricultural Sciences, Dharward, Karnataka State, will now be commercialized in the North, Central and South Cotton Growing Zones. Bt BN may push out of cultivation the already weak short and long staple cottons in the country.
The GEAC also approved the conduct of large scale field trials with public sector Bt hybrids NHH 44 and DBt H1 in the Central zone and NHH 44, DBt H1, DBt H2 and DBt H5, in the South zone.
The GEAC saw several merits in the Bt BN variety:
- the gene is very similar to Cry 1Ac in Monsanto’s Bollgard I which has been under commercial cultivation since 2002;
- the gene is now deployed in a popular variety with a well established agronomic background;
- being a variety and not a hybrid, the seed of one season of Bt BN can be used to raise a crop in the following season and such a practice with the hybrids would affect crop performance in subsequent generations;
- there is no burden of technology costs on the farmers since it is a public sector product;
- data on the expression of the Bt protein at various phases of crop growth and pollen flow studies were approved by the respective regulatory Committees;
- biosafety studies such as the effect of Cry 1Ac protein on earthworm, rabbit, rat, guinea pig, fish, broiler chicken, pig, cow, buffalo, goat and sheep were satisfactory, as also the results of tests on skin and mucous membrane irritation/sensitization in rabbits and acute oral toxicity studies on rats; and
- the directives of the Supreme Court of India on the level of detection of Bt protein at 0.01 per cent and 200 m of separation distance of planting Bt and non-Bt cotton crops to control pollen flow were complied with.
The GEAC has also approved for commercial planting 94 new Bt cotton hybrids, based on four different transformation events developed in the private sector, taking the number of approved Bt cotton hybrids for cultivation to 225 giving the farmers of different cotton zones an ample choice.
