Whiteflies Resistant Variety of Cotton | 21 Mar 2020

Why in News

Recently, the National Botanical Research Institute (NBRI), Lucknow has developed a whiteflies-resistant variety of cotton.

• Whiteflies are one of the top ten devastating pests in the world that damage more than 2000 plant species and also function as vectors for some 200-plant viruses.
• Cotton is one of the worst-hit crops by whiteflies. As two-third of the cotton crop was destroyed by the whiteflies in Punjab in 2015.

Key Points

• Need for Development :
  
  • Even though Bt cotton is also genetically-modified cotton and present in the market for farmers usage, it is resistant to two pests only and not resistant to whiteflies.
• Constituents :
  
  • The leaf extract of an edible fern Tectaria Macrodonta causes toxicity to the whitefly.
  • It works against whiteflies but is safe for application on the crop plants and provides protection from them.
• Process:
  
  • When whiteflies feed on doses of insecticidal protein of Tectaria Macrodonta, it interferes with the life cycle of insects.
  • The whiteflies suffer from very poor egg-laying, abnormal eggs, nymph and larval development, and the poor overall growth of the fly.
• Target and Non-target Insects:
  
  • The Tectaria Macrodonta is found to be in-effective on non-target insects.
  • Thus, it clearly shows that the protein is specifically toxic to whitefly and does not cause any harmful effect on other beneficial insects like butterflies and honeybees.

Source:PIB