Herbicide-tolerant cotton set to get recommendations for release

Subject : Science and Technology

Context-

After Delhi University’s transgenic hybrid mustard, India’s biotechnology regulator is set to recommend the “environmental release” of a genetically modified (GM) cotton of German multinational company Bayer AG that allows farmers to spray the herbicide glyphosate.

HT-BT Cotton-

The transgenic cotton — Bollgard II Roundup Ready Flex (BG-II RRF) — contains three alien genes, the first two (‘cry1Ac’ and ‘cry2Ab’) being isolated from a soil bacterium, Bacillus thuringiensis or Bt, and coding for proteins toxic to the American bollworm spotted bollworm and tobacco caterpillar insect pests.
The third gene, ‘cp4-epsps’, is sourced from another soil bacterium, Agrobacterium tumafaciens.
Its incorporation into cotton makes the crop “tolerant” to glyphosate.
This herbicide cannot be applied on normal cotton, as the chemical does not distinguish between the crops and weeds.

Sub-committee to look for approval-

The regulatory body, Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC) had constituted an expert sub-committee under Department of Biotechnology (DBT) scientist Sanjay Kumar Mishra to conduct a detailed review of the application by MahyoPvt. Ltd, Mumbai, the licensee for the BG-II RRF technology in India.
GEAC is a body under the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change that appraises GM products for their testing and commercialisation (environmental release).
BG-II RRF cotton had already undergone biosafety research and field trials by 2012-13.

How is it different from Bt Cotton-

Bt Cotton has been genetically modified (GM) to produce an insecticide to combat the cotton bollworm, a common pest.
The HTBt cotton variant adds another layer of modification, making the plant resistant to the herbicide glyphosate.

Need for Using HTBt Cotton:

Saves Cost: There is a shortage of labour needed to do at least two rounds of weeding for Bt cotton.
With HTBt, simply one round of glyphosate spraying is needed with no weeding. It saves Rs. 7,000 to Rs. 8,000 per acre for farmers.
Support of Scientists: Scientists are also in favour of this crop, and even the World Health Organization (WHO) has said it does not cause cancer.

Cotton crop-

Conditions of Growth-

Cotton is the crop of tropical and subtropical areas and requires uniformly high temperatures varying between 21°C and 30°C.
Frost is enemy number one of the cotton plant and it is grown in areas having at least 210 frost-free days in a year.
The modest requirement of water can be met by an average annual rainfall of 50- 100 cm.
About 80 per cent of the total irrigated area under cotton is in Punjab, Haryana, Gujarat and Rajasthan.
Moist weather and heavy rainfall at the time of boll-opening and picking are detrimental to cotton as the plant becomes vulnerable to pests and diseases.
High amounts of rainfall in the beginning and sunny and dry weather at ripening time are very useful for a good crop.
Cotton is a Kharif crop which requires 6 to 8 months to mature.
In the peninsular part of India, it is sown up to October and harvested between January and May because there is no danger of winter frost in these areas. In Tamil Nadu, it is grown both as a kharif and as a rabi crop.
Cotton cultivation is closely related to deep black soils (regur) of the Deccan and the Malwa Plateaus and those of Gujarat. It also grows well in alluvial soils of the Satluj-Ganga Plain and red and laterite soils of the peninsular regions.
Cotton quickly exhausts the fertility of the soil. Therefore, regular application of manures and fertilizers to the soils is very necessary.

Production-

India has the largest area under cotton cultivation in the world though it is the world’s third largest producer of cotton after China and the USA.
Currently it is grown over 6 per cent of the net sown area.

Distribution-

In India, cotton is grown in three distinct agro-ecological zones, viz.,
- Northern (Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan),
- Central (Gujarat, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh) and
- Southern zone (Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka).
Maharashtra is the largest producer and produces 29.78 per cent of the total cotton production of India. Maharashtra is a traditional producer of cotton. Over 80 per cent of the production comes from Khandesh, Vidarbha and Marathwada regions.