{"id":39405,"date":"2025-03-19T19:36:41","date_gmt":"2025-03-19T14:06:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/?p=39405"},"modified":"2025-03-19T19:36:57","modified_gmt":"2025-03-19T14:06:57","slug":"gm-cotton-pink-bollworm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/19-03-2025\/gm-cotton-pink-bollworm","title":{"rendered":"NBRI Develops GM Cotton Resistant to Pink Bollworm"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Syllabus: GS3\/Biotechnology<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Context<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Scientists at the CSIR-NBRI in Lucknow claim to have <strong>developed the world&#8217;s first genetically modified (GM) cotton <\/strong>that is <strong>totally resistant to the Pink Bollworm (PBW).<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>About<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Since the implementation of<strong> GM cotton<\/strong> in India in <strong>2002<\/strong>, varieties such as<strong> Bollgard 1 and Bollgard 2, <\/strong>developed jointly with Monsanto have effectively controlled <strong>certain bollworm species.\u00a0<\/strong>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>However, these varieties <strong>have not maintained robust defence against the PBW.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>The CSIR-National Botanical Research Institute (NBRI)<\/strong> is a premier research institution in India dedicated to botanical research and conservation.\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Pink Bollworm (PBW)<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>The pink bollworm (PBW), <\/strong>known among farmers as gulabi sundhi, damages the cotton crop by<strong> burrowing its larvae into the cotton bolls.\u00a0<\/strong>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>This results in the<strong> lint being cut and stained, making it unfit for use.\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Spread:<\/strong> PBW primarily <strong>spreads through the air.<\/strong> Residue of infected crops, often left by farmers on the field to be used as fuel, can also harbour PBW larvae which can then infect future crops.\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Prevention:<\/strong> To prevent future infestation, fields which saw PBW infestation should not be planted with the cotton crop, for at least one season.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Farmers are advised to burn residue at the earliest, and ensure there is no mixing between healthy and unhealthy seeds (or cotton).\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>What are GM crops?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Crops that have undergone <strong>genetic engineering processes<\/strong> to alter their DNA are referred to as genetically modified crops.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>This alteration is done<strong> to introduce desirable traits<\/strong> such as resistance to pests or herbicides, improved nutritional content, or increased yield.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>The process of creating GM crops typically involves:<\/strong> identification of desired traits, isolation of genes, insertion into crop genome, and expression of the trait.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>The techniques used in GM crops are:<\/strong> gene guns, electroporation, microinjection, agrobacterium etc.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>The types of modification are: <\/strong>transgenic, cis-genic, subgenic and multiple trait integration.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>The main trait types<\/strong> in GM crops are herbicide tolerance (HT), insect resistance (IR), Stacked traits etc.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Indian Scenario in GM crops<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Bt Cotton<\/strong><strong>:<\/strong> In 2002, the GEAC had allowed the commercial release of Bt cotton.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Bt cotton has two alien genes from the soil bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) that allows the crop to develop a protein toxic to the common pest <strong>pink bollworm.\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Till now, it is the only GM crop that is allowed in India.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Many varieties of GM crops are under different stages of development, like <strong>Bt brinjal <\/strong>and<strong> DMH-11 mustard.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full is-resized\"><img data-dominant-color=\"d5e8c6\" data-has-transparency=\"false\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"675\" height=\"497\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-images.nextias.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/format=auto\/ca\/uploads\/2025\/03\/gm-crops-r-and-d-in-india.webp\" alt=\"gm crops r and d in india\" class=\"not-transparent wp-image-39406\" style=\"--dominant-color: #d5e8c6; width:439px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/wp-images.nextias.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/format=auto\/ca\/uploads\/2025\/03\/gm-crops-r-and-d-in-india.webp 675w, https:\/\/wp-images.nextias.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/format=auto\/ca\/uploads\/2025\/03\/gm-crops-r-and-d-in-india-300x221.webp 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 675px) 100vw, 675px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table class=\"has-background\" style=\"background-color:#fff2cc\"><tbody><tr><td><strong>Regulatory framework in India<\/strong><br>&#8211; <strong>The Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC): <\/strong>It under the <strong>Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&amp;CC), <\/strong>is responsible for the assessment of proposals related to the commercial release of GM crops.<br>&#8211; <strong>Acts and rules<\/strong> that regulate GM crops in India are:<br>1. Environment Protection Act, 1986 (EPA)<br>2. Biological Diversity Act, 2002<br>3. Plant Quarantine Order, 2003<br>4. GM policy under Foreign Trade Policy<br>5. Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006<br>6. Drugs and Cosmetics Rule (8th Amendment), 1988.<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Source: <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/timesofindia.indiatimes.com\/city\/lucknow\/nbri-develops-gm-cotton-resistant-to-pink-bollworm\/articleshow\/118654187.cms\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>TOI\u00a0<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Scientists at the CSIR-NBRI in Lucknow claim to have developed the world&#8217;s first genetically modified (GM) cotton that is totally resistant to the Pink Bollworm (PBW).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-39405","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-current-affairs"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39405","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39405"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39405\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":39412,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39405\/revisions\/39412"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39405"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39405"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39405"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}