Resistance status of Helicoverpa armigera against Bt cotton in Pakistan

Transgenic cotton expressing the toxin Cry1Ac from Bacillus thuringiensis L. (Bt) is widely cultivated in Pakistan after its formal approval in 2010. The exposure of the local target pests to the Cry1Ac endotoxin for this duration might have changed the baseline susceptibility. To probe the status of resistance in one of the main target pests, Helicoverpa armigera, field-collected larvae were reared in the lab for conducting leaf fed bioassays. Twenty-six cotton accessions collected from farmers, including 25 Bt-cotton and one non-Bt, were tested to quantify the level of Cry1Ac, an insecticidal crystalline protein (ICP), in leaves of lower, middle and upper canopies of plants. The concentration of ICP was tested through Enzyme-linked Immunosorbent Assay and found significantly variable (P < 0.01) between and within accessions. The highest mean expression was observed in Accession-2 and Accession-4, while the lowest in Accession-21 and Accession-19. Among fresh leaf tissues from different parts of the plant, the highest mean expression was recorded at 60 days after sowing in upper canopy leaves of cotton accessions, which decreased in lower parts of the plant with the lowest mean expression in lower canopy leaves. Laboratory bioassays, to calculate lethal dose, for H. armigera showed that LD₅₀ and LD₉₅ were 0.62 μg/g and 1.59 μg/g of fresh tissue weight, respectively. A strong positive correlation also exists between the levels of Cry1Ac protein and insect mortality (r = 0.84). These findings suggested the future risk of cultivation of Bt cotton, carrying single Cry1Ac gene, in Pakistan, as resistance surging in H. armigera against Cry protein. These results may also have significant implications for the resistance management in Bt crops, especially cotton, in future.