Genetically modified crops Bt cotton Important Topic 13th
Hello friends, welcome to another session of the IBPS AFO important topic series. Today we are going to focus on Genetically modified crops Bt cotton.
Let’s see the question asked by IBPS AFO Mains in 2019-20 on this topic.
Bt cotton acts against which of the following insect pest?
- Aphid
- Whitefly
- Bollworm
- Bugs
The correct answer is Bollworm
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Let’s see the explanation-
Bt means Bacillus thuringiensis. Cotton is the most important commercial crop of India, often referred to as White Gold, and it consumes more than 45% of the total pesticides used in our country.
The most important insect pests that affect cotton production are –
- jassids,
- whiteflies,
- aphids, and
- thrips
Among the sap-sucking pests and Boll worms (American, Pink and Spotted) and Spodoptera among the leaf-eating caterpillar. Of all these cotton pests, American bollworm alone causes 40-70% yield reduction under severe incidence.
All Bt cotton plants contain one or more foreign genes derived from the soil-dwelling bacterium, Bacillus thuringiensis that’s why they are under the transgenic plant category.
The insertion of the genes from Bacillus thuringiensis causes cotton plant cells to produce crystal insecticidal proteins, often referred to as Cry proteins. These insecticidal proteins can kill some of the most devastating caterpillar pests of cotton, such as the larvae of tobacco budworms and bollworms.
The Bt. Transgenic cotton (Bollgaurd of Monsanto) has been developed in USA. This has the ability to control the bollworms at the early crop growth stages (up to 90 days) effectively.
The first commercial Bt Cotton variety was released in USA by M/S. Monsanto (Bollgard), which contains the cry1Ac gene of Bacillus thuringiensis.
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