NEWS Bulletin from Indian Society For Sustainable Agriculture And Rural Development
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On GMOs---
1. Pests emerging concern for Bt cotton
2. GM cotton being developed to resist pests
3. India-Australia fund for GM crops research likely
on HIV/AIDS----
4. Indians have no genetic protection against HIV: Study
On BAMBOO---
5. From The Fields - Calling for a bamboo boom
6. India's digital environmental atlas, a click away
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Pests emerging concern for Bt cotton
ASHOK B SHARMA
Posted online: Monday , April 28, 2008 at 2315 hrs IST
Posted online: Monday , April 28, 2008 at 2315 hrs IST
New Delhi, Apr 27 The target pests becoming resistant to Bt cotton has now emerged as a new problem in parts of Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh and Maharasthra. A study done by the Nagpur-based Central Institute for Cotton Research (CICR) has suggested the need for proactive six-pronged insect resistance management (IRM) on Bt cotton fields.
"Otherwise the development of insect resistance to Bt cotton can significantly diminish the returns and benefits that are currently being derieved from the technology," it said.
The Cry 1 Ac gene from soil bacteria, bacillus thuringiensis, was inserted in selected cotton hybrids to protect it from the bollworm, helicoverpa armigera. The team led by the head of the CICR crop protection division, KR Kranthi conducted a study on the population of the major pest, helicoverpa armigera collected from 10 cotton growing districts of north India, 26 districts of central India and 17 districts of south India in the period 2001-07.
"The data did not indicate high levels of resistance in the pest population that may be adequate for significant survival of the pest under field conditions. However, the data indicated that there was a clear decrease in the proportion of susceptible pest population," said Kranthi.
Other pests like spodoptera litura, mealy bugs, mired bugs, dusky cotton bugs and pink bollworms have increased due to lack of adequate sprays of insecticides.
He said that stochastic model outputs indicated the need to initiate IRM strategies in addition to the currently recommended 5-row non-Bt cotton refuge per acre of Bt cotton. "In light of the facts that the Cry 1 Ac expressed in Bollgard (Bt cotton) does not represent high dose against helicoverpa armigera and also that the allele conferring bollworm resistance to Cry 1 Ac is not extremely rare and is inherited in a semi-dominant manner, it is important to develop IRM strategies appropriate to Indian conditions," he said.
Kranthi said that Cry 1 Ac has been inserted in 10 crops including cotton, out of which eight were good alternate hosts of helicoverpa armigera and had been serving as naturally occurring refugia area near Bt cotton fields.
"As we go ahead with more and more crops harbouring Cry genes, it is important to consider that the target pests would be under immense pressure and the fittest would survive and multiply to adapt themselves to toxins being deployed in transgenic plants," he said.
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GM cotton being developed to resist pests
ASHOK B SHARMA
Posted online: Monday , April 28, 2008 at 2318 hrs IST
Posted online: Monday , April 28, 2008 at 2318 hrs IST
New Delhi, Apr 27 The Lucknow-based National Botanical Research Institute (NBRI) is developing a genetically modified (GM) cotton for resisting the incidence of sucking pests, which Bt cotton has failed to encounter.
"NBRI has been working for development of novel delta endotoxins and transgenic cotton for resistance to cotton bollworms and sucking pests. A chimeric and endotoxin gene Cry 1 EC was designed at NBRI to target a common Indian pest, Spodoptera litura. It has been deployed in several crop plants, including cotton, groundnut, tomato, and chickpea. Several candidate genes are being examined for giving resistance to sucking pests in cotton," said the NBRI director, Rakesh Tuli.
According to Tuli, cotton cultivation faces the challenges of biotic and abiotic stresses. The quality and yield of lint reduce the competitiveness of Indian cotton. Conventional plant breeding has been effective in the improvement of cotton cultivars and hybrids. Enhancing heterotic vigour, introducing conditional male sterility, and deploying tools for accelerated breeding are important to enhancing yields in India.
He said that NBRI was examining the diverse germplasm collection of Gossypium hirsutum and Gossypium herbaceum for genomic prospecting of genes for drought tolerance and fibre quality in cotton. Whole transcriptome sequencing from the leaf and root of germplasm, constrasting for agronomically important traits has been used for identification of a large number of SNPs. Cotton gene chip (Affymetrix) representing about 24,000 genes has been deployed in expression profiling to identify the genes expressed differentially in drought stress and fibre development. A number of genes have been identified for functional validiation.
Tuli said that identification of novel genes for dealing with biotic and abiotic stresses through genomic expression arrays and development of physical genomic maps using SSR, SNP, and EST markers was a major challenge.
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India-Australia fund for GM crops research likely
ASHOK B SHARMA
Posted online: Thursday , April 24, 2008 at 1946 hrs IST
Posted online: Thursday , April 24, 2008 at 1946 hrs IST
New Delhi, Apr 23 India and Australia are likely to create a joint corpus to fund researches in transgenic crops in the public sector. Crops of common interest like cotton, wheat, chickpea and banana have been selected.
The two-day discussions between the agriculture scientists of both countries which concluded in Delhi on Tuesday suggested that the joint India-Australia agbiotech fund should be set up for a span of 12 years. It should provide at least $25 million per year for research in developing a particular trait per crop. Some traits identified for development are drought resistant, thermo-tolerance, salinity resistant, nutrient use efficiency and resistance to biotic stresses like insects, fungi and virus.
The scientists from the public sector in both the countries have decided to make this representation to their respective governments, after which official-level discussions would follow to pave the way for setting up of the joint fund for researches in GM crops.
"It is high time that India and Australia cooperate in development of transgenic crops for mutual benefit," said Gary Fitt, deputy chief, CSIRO Entomology, Longpocket Laboratories, Brisbane.
The scientists called for putting in place a mechanism under the proposed fund for rendering freedom to operate. Among other activities suggested under the proposed initiative include network development, supporting regulatory passage requirements, FTO analysis, assessing capability and field trial environment and phenomics.
"The work will be undertaken under regulatory regimes and bio-safety norms in respective countries," said KC Bansal, professor, NRC on plant biotechnology, Indian Agriculture Research Institute, Delhi.
Scientists from both the countries also called for facilitating material transfers for research and relaxation of the visa regime to allow frequent visits. Agronomic practices in both the countries would be evaluated. The fund would also be used to create consumer awareness about GM crops and food.
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Indians have no genetic protection against HIV: Study
ASHOK B SHARMA
Posted online: Saturday , April 26, 2008 at 1146 hrs IST
Posted online: Saturday , April 26, 2008 at 1146 hrs IST
New Delhi, April 25: A monumental study on genetic profile of the country's population has revealed that majority of Indian do not have natural protection against HIV/AIDS. The known protective marker – rs333 – in the CCRS gene is virtually absent in the Indian population.
The study also revealed that unlike the vegetarian population of south India, their counterparts in north India are vulnerable to cardio-vascular diseases and they have very low levels of vitamin B 12. The tribals of eastern and northeastern parts of the country are largely exposed to the risks of malaria.
The Indian Genome Variation Consortium – a network of six institutes of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), Centre for Genomic Applications, Indian Statistical Institute and anthropologists from various institute – which undertook the study generated information on over 4000 genetic markers from over 1000 biomedically important and pharmacogenetically relevant genes in 15,000 individuals emcompassing the diversity of population across the country. Over 100 scientists are presently working in this project.
Six CSIR institutes which are associated with the Indian Genome Variation Consortium are Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology (IGIB), Indian Institute of Chemical Biology (IICB), Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB), Central Drug Research Institute (CDRI), Industrial Toxicology Research Centre (ITRC), Institute of Microbial Technology (IMT).
The results of the first phase of the study – Genetic Landscape of the People of India : A Canvas for Disease Gene Exploration – has been published in the Journal Of Genetics in April 20, 2008. The study was taken up in 2003 with a fund of $ 5.8 million.
"The study indicated a strong association between genetic and linguistic profiles in India and that there are significant genetic differences in the frequencies of disease-associated genetic markers," said CSIR Director-General Samir K Brahmachari.
According to Brahmachari the study will help in diagnosis of diseases and prescription of specific drug for specific disease in specific groups of individuals. These results have also provided the first set of insights into the processes of human adaptation to different types of environment in India, he said.
Indian population form a continuum of genetic spectrum bridging the Caucasians and Oriental Asians, Austro-Asiatic, Indo-European, Tibeto-Burmese, Mongoloid, Negritte and Dravidian speaking population.
The Union Minister for Science and Technology, Kapil Sibal said that in the first phase of the programme 100 genes were analysed and in the next phase of the programme 1000 genes which have already been collected will be analysed. A large number of projects have been undertaken in the XI Plan that are aimed at utilizing thise basal data for predictive marker discovery and pharmacogenomics.
Sibal claimed that the India project was a success over the International HapMap Consortium project initiated in 2002 with a fund of $ 100 million. The global project, he said covered only 45 Chinese, 45 Japanese, 90 Caucasians and 90 Africans. Fully realising that 45 samples cannot represent total diversity of India, the Indian Genome Variation Consortium was set up to conduct the study in the country....
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From The Fields
Calling for a bamboo boom
ASHOK B SHARMA
Posted online: Friday, April 25, 2008 at 2322 hrs
Posted online: Friday, April 25, 2008 at 2322 hrs
New Delhi, April 24: If freed from the laws that govern its use, bamboo can be the new green gold, says a study conducted by the India Development Foundation (IDF) on behalf of the Confederation of Indian Industries (CII).
Bamboo is classified both as a tree and a forest produce and this inhibits its use in many instances. Three Central Acts—Indian Forest Act 1927, Forest Conservation Act 1980 and Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act 2006—govern the use and movement of bamboo. The Andhra Pradesh Forest Act 1967 also recognises bamboo as a forest produce.
The study has suggested that bamboo grown on non-forest private lands should not be subjected to these laws and its free movement and use be ensured.
Bamboo produce covers a whole range. According to one estimate, the global market size of bamboo produce is $ 7.5 billion, of which China has a share of about $ 5 billion. According to the IDF study, China exports about Rs 10,000 crore bamboo products every year. The size of domestic bamboo economy in India is estimated at Rs 2,043 crore.
However, the potential market is estimated at Rs 4,463 crore which can grow to Rs 26,000 crore by 2015.
At present, the annual harvest of bamboo in India is 13.47 million tonne, while the domestic demand is 26.69 tonne. Bamboo is used extensively in the Northeast.
The IDF study suggests more use of bamboo in the paper pulp industry, in manufacturing wood substitutes, composites and in products including Venetian blinds and angarbatis (incense sticks).
In recent times fibre from bamboo has also been used in making yarn and fabrics. Several spinning mills use 100 per cent bamboo yarn and companies like Raymond, BSL, Paramount Textile Mills, Madurai have already made fabrics out of bamboo.
The Planning Commission has estimated that the bamboo industry can provide 8.6 million new jobs, create a market size worth Rs 6,500 crore with an investment of Rs 2,600 crore and lift about five million artisan families out of poverty.
Though the government launched the National Mission on Bamboo Applications (NMBA) in November 2004 and the National Bamboo Mission (NBM) in December 2006, the use of bamboo is still to be optimised.
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India's digital environmental atlas, a click away
Commodities Bureau
Posted online: Tuesday , April 22, 2008 at 0108 hrs IST
Posted online: Tuesday , April 22, 2008 at 0108 hrs IST
New Delhi, Apr 21 India's first Digital Environmental Atlas is just a click away. This interactive state of environment atlas of India is an innovative interactive atlas. The Atlas is a compilation of categorised thematic maps on green (forest, biodiversity), blue (water resources) and brown (air pollution) environmental issues and provides flexibility and versatility for users to visualise environment spatial data using simple Geographic Information System (GIS) functionalities.
The data used in preparation of the spatial maps and atlas are taken from various government sources. The unique feature of the Atlas is the Pressure – State – Impact – Response (PSIR) framework analysis, where all the maps are presented and displayed in the PSIR framework. The Atlas will regularly provide the public, government, non-government organisation, and decision makers with accurate, timely and accessible information on the state of environment.
The status of thenvironment and the contribution of conventional development strategies to achieve sustainable development have been a matter of increasing concern over the last few decades. For development planning and policy making ready and quick availability of related information is an essential pre-requisite. Decisions relating to sustainable development can be taken more effectively if environment and socio-economic data over certain period of time, and for specific geographical areas are collected, presented and disseminated.
Spatial database becomes vital for judicious use of natural resources. Now with the help of State of Environment Atlas all these issues are addressed.
Realising the need of digital translation of work in every sphere, Development Alternatives (DA) with the support from Union Ministry of Environment and Forests designed and developed the first Interactive State of Environment (SoE) Atlas of India. The Atlas is the first of its kind in India with regular updates and is available both as a CD and as an interactive website.
This will help holidayers, environmentalists and others to know topographic conditions, most brown (polluted areas), Green cover, water sources etc.
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