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New Delhi, April 8: : The National Agriculture Research System (NARS) has developed three varieties of Bt cotton, which will enable the farmers to recycle seeds from crops cultivated in a season for the next season. Cotton crop can also be made resistant to both bollworm and spodetetra pests.
These seeds are likely to be released for commercial cultivation within three years.
The Bt cotton seeds developed by multinational Monsanto being hybrids cannot be recycled from the cultivated crops for the next season. Also, Monsanto seeds are resistant to only American bollworm pests.
Deputy director-general of Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), Dr Mangla Rai speaking to The Financial Express said that cry 1 (ac) and cry 1 (ab) genes developed by Monsanto have been successfully transplanted in three varieties of Indian cotton at the Pune-based Central Cotton Research Institute and University of Agricultural Sciences, Dharwar, Karnataka. These transformations have been successful and protocols have already been developed. Now seed multiplication is being taken up and hopefully within three years, farmers will be able to use these seeds, he said.
Dr Rai said that if this venture of the Indian scientists is successful, the farmers need not depend up on the supply of Bt cotton seeds from a single company or agency. They will have multiple choices for multiple seeds. The seed prices then cannot be dictated by a single company.
Dr Rai said that the varieties of Bt Cotton developed by Monsanto like Mech 12, Mech 162, Mech 184 and Mech 195 are all hybrids. The seeds of these hybrids cannot be recycled from crops after cultivation. The scientists at NARS, therefore, thought of transplanting cry genes developed by Monsanto on varietal cotton seeds. They have been successful in developing three such varieties resistant to American bollworms like the varieties developed by Monsanto. These seeds can be grown in different regions of the country.
He said that these varieties developed by NARS scientists will help the farmers increase their productivity and recycle seeds from cultivated crops.
He said that the scientists at the New Delhi-based Indian Agriculture Research Institute (IARI) and National Botanical Garden, Lucknow are workingon gene synthesis. Already three genes of cotton have been taken up. In one of the works, it has been demonstrated that cotton crop can be made resistant to spodetetra pests. He said that this gene synthesis programme is likely to be completed in five years and by that time the scientists would...
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