ICRISAT IPM project 03: Role of insect-resistant transgenic crops
in IPM and their bio-safety to the non-target beneficial insects in the
eco-system
Duration: 3 years (2005
–2007)
Purpose: To increase production and productivity of
crops through rational deployment of insect-resistant transgenic crops, and to
assess their bio-safety to the non-target organisms in the eco-system.
Background/description: Biotechnology holds a great promise for developing crop plants with
resistance to insects. Development and deployment of
insect-resistant transgenic crops will lead to a drastic reduction in the
number of insecticide sprays applied for pest control, increased activity of
natural enemies, and reduced amounts of insecticide residues in the food and
food products. Genes from bacteria such as Bacillus
thuringiensis (Bt)
have been used successfully for Helicoverpa
control through transgenic cotton, maize, tomato, potato, and tobacco while
efforts are underway at ICRISAT to develop transgenic pigeonpea
and chickpea with resistance to H. armigera,
and sorghum with resistance to stem borer, Chilo
partellus, and shoot fly, Atherigona
soccata. Efficacy of transgenic crops for
controlling the target and the non-target insect pests, and their effects on
the natural enemies need to be determined on a regional basis. The significance
of such effects would depend on the importance of the immature stages of the
target insect for maintaining the populations of the natural enemies. Transgenics may reduce the numbers of certain natural
enemies in areas planted with transgenic crops, but their populations may be
maintained on the other crops that serve as a host to the target pests. Within
field impact may be greater for parasitoids that are monophagous,
and the populations of such natural enemies can only be maintained on
non-transgenic crops or other hosts of the target pest. The effect of
transgenic crops on the abundance of natural enemies need to be compared with
the non-transgenic fields of the same crop where the natural enemies may be
virtually absent because of heavy pesticide application. The present studies
are aimed at assessing the role of transgenic crops in IPM, reduction in
pesticide usage, and to monitor the effects of transgenic crops on target and
non-target insects in the eco-system.
Agroecozone(s) and
location(s): Semi-arid tropics in Asia
and Africa.
Expected outputs: An understanding of the contribution of transgenics in pest management and environment
conservation, availability of methods to assess the impact of transgenic
products on the beneficial natural enemies, better understanding of the risks
of deployment of transgenic plants on arthropod natural enemies, and
risk-assessment models for deployment of transgenic crops will lead to
development of appropriate strategies for deployment of transgenic crops for
sustainable crop production.
Potential impact and beneficiaries: The ouputs of this project will lead to rational deployment of
transgenic crops for sustainable crop production. Information on contribution
of transgenic crops for pest management and their effects on non-target insects
will lead to a rational deployment of transgenic crops for pest management,
reduction in pesticide use, and environment conservation.
Partners: a) ICRISAT, b) FAL (Switzerland),
c) NARS, and c) NGOs.
Development investor(s): SDC (Switzerland)
and DBT (India).
ICRISAT contact person(s)/principal
investigator(s): H.C. Sharma (H.Sharma@cgiar.org),
K.K. Sharma (K.Sharma@cgiar.org)
(ICRISAT). Joerg Romies ( FAL, Switzerland).