Cotton Mission:

Development of next-generation transgenic cotton for broad-spectrum resistance to field pests for yield protection.
The project aims to improve cotton productivity in India through yield protection. Proposed technologies would increase farmers’ income through sustainable control of field insect pests using GM seeds. It will be achieved by developing transgenic cotton with effective resistance to a broad spectrum of field insect pests. The project also aims to evaluate the application of whitefly trap-cum-death-sink cotton as a guard to protect vegetables and horticultural crops from whitefly-vectored viral diseases in India and design and development of cotton boll picking machine for Indian conditions. CSIR-National Botanical Research Institute, Lucknow is the Nodal Lab of this mission project with major objectives -

• Improvement of cotton varieties for insect tolerance
• Stacking of promising GM cotton events in cotton varieties for durable and broad-spectrum resistance to field insect pests
• Deregulation of GM cotton varieties
• Discovery of new insecticidal genes, promoters and development of GM cotton varieties
• Use of Pheromone Application Technology as an immediate solution to field insect pest control
• Application of whitefly trap-cum-death-sink cotton to protect vegetable and horticultural crops from whitefly-vectored viral diseases in India
• Design and development of cotton boll picking machine for Indian conditions

Under the mission, four GM cotton lines have been developed. Tma12, Msc14, and Pnu08 GM cotton lines show moderate to high tolerance to whitefly. Pyramiding of these genes in one line by hybridization to achieve nearly complete protection from whitefly in all agroclimatic conditions is under progress. Cry1EC GM cotton lines show nearly complete protection from Pink Bollworm (Pectinophoragossypiella) and Leaf Armyworm (Spodoptera litura). Introgression of these events in popular Indian cotton varieties through back-cross breeding is in progress. Strategy for using whitefly trap-cum-death sink cotton as a fence to guard crops like tomato, papaya, and chilli have been developed for polyhouse conditions. This technology enables pesticide-free cultivation and ensures high productivity through yield protection (without any genetic manipulation). Pheromone-trap that lures Pink Bollworm has been developed; evaluation of its techno-economics is in progress.