agriculture

Bt transgenic corn with insect protection can be planted as an integrated seed blend in the Corn Belt, but has mandated block or strip non-Bt refuge requirements in the southern USA where cotton is grown. Depending on the type of Bt corn, the required refuge is from 20 - 50% of planted acres. This means that 20 - 50% of the crop is subject to damage and yield loss by the pests intended to be controlled by the Bt toxins, and it also means that growers must clean out and reset their planters to deliver non-Bt seed after planting the primary Bt crop. This takes time, and time is at a premium during planting season. When Bt corn is up for registration with EPA, the seed companies present an Insect Resistance Management (IRM) plan designed to slow down the development of resistance. Upon registration of the Bt technology, EPA mandates that the seed companies enforce the plan and provide annual evaluations of "compliance" by growers. When transgenic corn seed is sold, the companies...

Cracks small and large are beginning to appear in our Bt (transgenic) corn targeted at controlling insects. To date we have confirmed resistance in corn rootworm to Cry3Bb1 and mCry3a. In the caterpillars we have confirmed resistance to Cry1F in fall armyworm, and likely resistance to Cry1F in southwestern corn borer and western bean cutworm. There was recently a population of cotton bollworm (corn earworm) with elevated levels of tolerance to Cry1Ac reported in Arkansas, and bollworm seems to have been becoming less susceptible to Cry1Ac in the cotton belt for many years. None of this should be a surprise because transgenic toxins are really no different from traditional insecticides; the more you use them the faster the insects become resistant. What is different is that traditional insecticides last only a few days or weeks and are gone; our transgenic crops express toxins all season and can select every generation of a pest for resistance. And also unlike traditional insecticides, ...

FOCUS on Entomology: Extension Cotton Entomologist Begins Work in Lubbo... : We are pleased to announce the arrival of Dr. Suhas Vyavhare, the new Extension Entomologist for cotton on the High Plains.  He has written ...

We are pleased to announce the arrival of Dr. Suhas Vyavhare, the new Extension Entomologist for cotton on the High Plains.  He has written about his background and cotton entomology focus below, and his contact information is here: E-mail: Suhas.Vyavhare@ag.tamu.edu, address: 1102 E. FM 1294, Lubbock, TX 79403-6653, phone number: office (806) 746-6101 or cell (806)220-4228. I consider myself a farmer first then a scientist/researcher. It was my early childhood on a small family farm back home in India which made me passionate about the science of agriculture. After having completed high school, it was an obvious choice for me to go to a College of Agriculture to pursue an undergraduate degree during which I became interested in entomology. It is that curiosity and the interest along with a strong desire to pursue graduate studies overseas landed me in West Texas A&M University (WTAMU) in Canyon Texas where I obtained an MS degree.   I worked on screening   sorghum ge...