Location: Southern Insect Management Research
Project Number: 6066-22000-091-016-S
Project Type: Non-Assistance Cooperative Agreement
Start Date: Sep 1, 2023
End Date: Aug 31, 2028
Objective:
Assess the ongoing value of Bt crops in controlling agronomically important insect pests by 1) annually estimating mortality of important pests from Bt transgenes being developed in the major agronomic crops of Mississippi, and 2) examine impacts on behavior of targeted insects.
Approach:
Insect survival and damage of natural populations will be compared using research plots or commercial fields of unsprayed Bt and non Bt crops. Research will include corn earworm and tobacco budworm comparisons, as well as other pests that are targeted by transgenic crops. Behavioral characteristics of targeted pests surviving in Bt fields will be evaluated using various tactics. When greater than expected populations of large larvae are found in a Bt field, larvae will be shared with USDA-ARS SIMRU for testing in bioassays for resistance to Bt toxins.
