Australia
August 17, 2007
Source:
CSIRO
SOLVE August 07
A CSIRO review of scientific innovation for Australian industry
By Dr Gio Braidotti
The cotton industry’s success
with genetic modification to amplify pest-management benefits
has led it to target even more ambitious gains.
Having seen biotechnology reduce
pesticide use in cotton crops by 80–90 per cent,
Cotton Australia
is applying a similar strategy to slash the amount of water
needed to grow cotton. This bold target is, again, relying on
CSIRO expertise across a range of agricultural technologies.
Over the next three years, $17 million provided by the
Cotton Research and Development
Corporation and the Cotton Catchment Communities Cooperative
Research Centre will be spent applying a broad range of
technologies to achieve Cotton Australia’s target of doubling
the water-use efficiency of cotton crops in just 10 years.
Cotton Australia CEO Adam Kay admits the goal is ambitious, but
given the unprecedented success of pest control and pesticide
reduction based on cutting-edge gene technologies, he is
confident the new goal is achievable.
The water-use efficiency target will be based on a similar
strategy developed to introduce and sustain the genetically
modified (GM) cotton that has allowed the industry to
dramatically cut back on its use of environmentally damaging
pesticides.
At CSIRO Entomology, assistant
chief Dr Gary Fitt explains that in dealing with cotton’s major
pest – the Helicoverpa moth – CSIRO developed GM cotton
varieties using Monsanto’s Bt gene, which delivers an
insecticidal protein obtained from the Bt soil bacterium.
However, Bt toxins have been used for decades as environmentally
friendly sprays, and overseas studies have shown that insect
pests are capable of developing resistance to Bt when the
compound is over-used as a spray.
“In Australia, Helicoverpa has a history of repeatedly evolving
resistance to pesticides,” Dr Fitt says. “So when GM cotton
became available in Australia it was released with a specially
designed, pre-emptive resistance management strategy.”
These combined advances – in biotechnology and resistance
management – have since delivered unprecedented environmental
and pest-management benefits. Gains include a resurgence of
beneficial insects that help growers deal with additional pests.
The strategy also includes a longstanding monitoring system that
allows CSIRO to determine that after a decade of using GM
cotton, there has been no change in the resistance status of
Helicoverpa to Bt.
Mr Kay says preventing the emergence of resistance is essential
to the industry’s future. “The strategy we used was based on the
best science available and that was provided by CSIRO.”
He further stresses that although the benefits brought about by
GM technology are unquestionable, the industry also needs great
cotton varieties in which to introduce novel GM traits. “This is
where CSIRO Plant Industry’s cotton breeding program is so
critical: it provides the platform for continuous improvements
in yield and fibre quality through the addition of conventional
and GM traits.”
Looking to the future, Mr Kay says there are more GM traits in
the R&D pipeline and that the next big issue is water: “We
already have the most efficient water-use growers in the world,
but we are looking to add further to those achievements.”
Original article:
http://www.solve.csiro.au/0807/article10.htm
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