A Cotton Plant Kills One Kind of Bug, but Is Blamed for Another
Posted on | June 17, 2010 | No Comments
This is the VOA Special English Agriculture Report, from voaspecialenglish.com | http In two thousand eight, scientists reported on a study of cotton grown in six provinces in northern China. The study involved bollworms, a major threat to cotton farmers. It also involved Bt cotton, a plant genetically engineered to resist that threat.Bt cotton plants naturally kill bollworms. As a result, the study in China found that the cotton plants could also help protect nearby crops against damage by the insects.Now, several researchers involved in that study have published another report in the same journal, Science. They studied the same farmlands again and confirmed the findings about bollworms. But they also found something else. They say another kind of bug is now attacking the cotton and other crops. The study reported on mirid populations between nineteen ninety-seven and two thousand eight. The researchers also documented the use of insecticide chemicals by the Chinese farmers from nineteen ninety-two to two thousand eight.Kongming Wu of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences in Beijing took part in both studies. He says mirids are destroying crops including cotton, apples, pears, peaches and vegetables. He says this is happening where mirids never before were a problem. The report says the bugs invaded after farmers decreased their use of insecticides by planting Bt cotton. The scientists say their research shows that the Bt cotton has become a source of mirids. They <b>…</b>
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A Cotton Plant Kills One Kind of Bug, but Is Blamed for Another
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