Bt Corn Update, and New Bt Trait Table Published
As final seed purchases are being made in the Texas Panhandle, here is a brief update on the status of Bt corn. But before your eyes glaze over from the discussion below of new Bts and resistance to older Bts, I want to highlight a publication that makes it easy to tell which toxin packages and herbicide traits are in which type of corn. Dr. Chris DiFonzo at Michigan State University publishes the annual " Handy Bt Trait Table for U.S. Corn Production ", and the 2018 version was posted online today. (I am a contributor to this publication, but Dr. DiFonzo does the heavy lifting.) In just two pages she lists the types of Bt present in all commercialized corn in the U.S.A., and the table presents the trade names for traits, Bt event, protein(s) expressed, targeted insects and herbicide traits. The 2018 Trait Table also lists the insect x Bt combinations with documented field-failures, confirmed resistance, or cross-resistance. These statements are based on published lab assays...