Breakthrough on risk assessment of pest's resistance to Bt cotton

After a decade of study, a research team led by Dr. Kongming Wu, professor and director of the Plant Protection Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, has tackled the issue regarding Bt resistance. Their work on "Risk Assessment of Bollworm's Resistance to Bt Cotton and Research/Application of Precaution Technology" was awarded the National Science and Technology Progress Prize, Class II.

Wu suggested the strategy of nature shelter by small-scale-farming where farmers plant corn, wheat, soybean, peanut and other crops. By discovering the mechanism of pest resistance to Bt cotton, the team was able to establish an early warning and monitoring technology system by which people can detect and monitor pest resistance at different levels - gene, individual, and population. The Ministry of Agriculture (MoA) of China is now making use of Wu's findings in biosafety assessment, management and monitoring of commercialized Bt cotton.