Khurram Bashir and colleagues of the University of the Punjab, Pakistan report that a “Novel indica basmati line (B-370) expressing two unrelated genes of Bacillus thuringiensis is highly resistant to two lepidopteran insects in the field.” Their work appears in the October issue of the Crop Protection journal.

Two of the most destructive pests of rice are the yellow stem borer (YSB) and rice leaf folder (RLF). Both are susceptible to two different Bt toxins, so that rice possessing the two traits at one time might hold the best defense against the insects. In this study, researchers expressed cry1Ac and cry2A in Indica Basmati rice, and sowed the transgenic product under artificial YSB and RLF infestation.

Transgenic lines showed up to 100% and 98% resistance against YSB, with 98% additional resistant against RLF as compared with the control. Transgenic lines also produced up to 59% more grains than control plants under artificially augmented conditions, while up to an 8% increase was recorded under natural infestations. However, researchers observed that lines containing two Bt genes were shorter as compared with lines containing either cry1Ac or cry2A alone or the control.

Subscribers to ScienceDirect can read the complete article at http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cropro.2005.01.008.