Publication Date:
2010-10-12
Description:
Transgenic maize engineered to express insecticidal proteins from the bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) has become widely adopted in U.S. agriculture. In 2009, Bt maize was planted on more than 22.2 million hectares, constituting 63% of the U.S. crop. Using statistical analysis of per capita growth rate estimates, we found that areawide suppression of the primary pest Ostrinia nubilalis (European corn borer) is associated with Bt maize use. Cumulative benefits over 14 years are an estimated $3.2 billion for maize growers in Illinois, Minnesota, and Wisconsin, with more than $2.4 billion of this total accruing to non-Bt maize growers. Comparable estimates for Iowa and Nebraska are $3.6 billion in total, with $1.9 billion for non-Bt maize growers. These results affirm theoretical predictions of pest population suppression and highlight economic incentives for growers to maintain non-Bt maize refugia for sustainable insect resistance management.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Hutchison, W D -- Burkness, E C -- Mitchell, P D -- Moon, R D -- Leslie, T W -- Fleischer, S J -- Abrahamson, M -- Hamilton, K L -- Steffey, K L -- Gray, M E -- Hellmich, R L -- Kaster, L V -- Hunt, T E -- Wright, R J -- Pecinovsky, K -- Rabaey, T L -- Flood, B R -- Raun, E S -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2010 Oct 8;330(6001):222-5. doi: 10.1126/science.1190242.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Department of Entomology, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN 55108, USA. hutch002@umn.edu〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20929774" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉
Keywords:
Animals
;
Bacillus thuringiensis/genetics
;
Bacterial Proteins/*genetics
;
Crops, Agricultural/*economics/growth & development
;
Endotoxins/*genetics
;
Hemolysin Proteins/*genetics
;
Insecticide Resistance
;
Midwestern United States
;
*Moths/physiology
;
*Pest Control, Biological/economics/methods
;
Plants, Genetically Modified/growth & development
;
Population Density
;
Population Dynamics
;
Zea mays/*genetics/growth & development
Print ISSN:
0036-8075
Electronic ISSN:
1095-9203
Topics:
Biology
,
Chemistry and Pharmacology
,
Computer Science
,
Medicine
,
Natural Sciences in General
,
Physics
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