Bt cotton influencing enzymatic activities under varied soils

Kasturikasen Beura, Amitava Rakshit

Department of Soil Science and Agricultural Chemistry, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, India;.
Department of Soil Science and Agricultural Chemistry, Bihar Agricultural University, Sabour, Bihar, India.

DOI: 10.4236/oje.2013.38059                

Abstract

The enzymatic activity was evaluated under both Bt and non-Bt systems in varied soil type. The study was conducted during the 2010 wet season (July to December) in a net-house at the Institute of Agricultural Sciences of Banaras Hindu University. It was carried out on three different soil ordersi.e.entisol, inceptisol and alfisol. Bt cotton (cvNCS-138) and its non-transgenic isoline (cvNCS-138) were grown until maturity. A no crop pot was maintained with three replications for all the three soil orders. Study design was a factorial experiment under a completely randomized block design with three replications. The study concludes that soil under Bt cotton cultivar produced significantly higher amount of phosphatase activity than both nonBt and no crop treatments at three growth stages. And the value decreased as the crop growth period advanced. The interaction effect between soil type and Bt-crop was found to be significant in different growth stages throughout the growing season. Results from the study revealed that a significant reduction (9.4%) of the dehydrogenase activity and soil respiration (5%) in the rhizosphere of Bt cotton over non-Bt isoline.

Keywords

Bt Cotton; Enzymatic Activity; Soil Orders

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

References

[1]	Qaim, M. and Zilberman, D. (2003) Yield effects of genetically modified crops in developing countries. Science, 299, 900-902. http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.1080609
[2]	http://cotcorp.gov.in/national-cotton.aspx
[3]	Wang, H., Ye, Q., Wang, W., Wu L. and Wu, W. (2006) Cry1Ab protein from Bt transgenic rice does not residue in rhizosphere soil. Environmental Pollution, 143, 449-455. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2005.12.006
[4]	Beura, K. and Rakshit, A. (2011) Effect of Bt cotton on nutrient dynamics under varied soil type. Italian Journal of Agronomy, 6, 25-28. http://dx.doi.org/10.4081/ija.2011.e35
[5]	Beura, K. and Rakshit, A. (2012) Effect of BT Cotton on Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungiinfection under varied soil type. Mycorrhiza News, 24, 11-12.
[6]	Jackson, M.L. (1973) Soil chemical analysis. 1st Edition, Prentice Hall of India Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi.
[7]	Bouyoucos, G.J. (1962) Hydrometer method improved for making particle size analysis of soils. Agronomy Journal, 54, 464-465. http://dx.doi.org/10.2134/agronj1962.00021962005400050028x
[8]	Topp, G.C., Galganov, Y.T., Ball, B.C. and Carter, M.R. (1993) Soil water desorption curves. In: Carter, M.R., Ed., Soil Sampling and Methods of Analysis, Canadian Society of Soil Science, Lewis Publishers, Boca Raton.
[9]	Walkley, A. and Black, I.A. (1934) An examination of the degtjareff method for determining soil organic matter and a proposed modification of the chromic acid titration method. Soil Science, 37, 29-38. http://dx.doi.org/10.1097/00010694-193401000-00003
[10]	Subbiah, B.V. and Asija, G.L. (1956) A rapid procedure for determination of available nitrogen in soils. Current Science, 31, 259-260.
[11]	Bray, R.H. and Kurtz, L.T. (1945) Determination of total, organic and available forms of phosphorus in soils. Soil Science, 59, 39-46. http://dx.doi.org/10.1097/00010694-194501000-00006
[12]	Olsen, S.R., Cole, C.V., Watamable, F.S. and Dean, L.A. (1954). Estimation of available phosphorus in soil by extraction with sodium bicarbonate. US Department Agriculture Circular, 939, 1-19.
[13]	Lindsay, W.L. and Norvell, W.A. (1978) Development of a DTPA soil test for zinc, iron, manganese and copper. Soil Science Society America Journal, 42, 421-428. http://dx.doi.org/10.2136/sssaj1978.03615995004200030009x
[14]	Klein, D.A., Loh, T.C. and Goulding, R.L. (1971) A rapid procedure to evaluate dehydrogenase activity of soils low in organic matter. Soil Biology Biochemistry, 3, 385-387. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0038-0717(71)90049-6
[15]	Tabatabai, M.A. and Bremner, J.M. (1969) Use of p-nitrophenol phosphate for the assay of soil phosphatase activity. Soil Biology Biochemistry, 1, 301-307. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0038-0717(69)90012-1
[16]	Umbreit, W.W., Burris, R.H. and Stouffer, J.F. (1972) Manometric and biochemical techniques—A manual describing methods applicable to the study of tissue metabolism. 5th Edition, Burgers Pub. Co., Sudbury.
[17]	Sun, C.X., Chen, L.J., Wu, Z.J., Zhou, L.K. and Shimizu, H. (2007) Soil persistence of Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) toxin from transgenic Bt cotton tissues and its effect on soil enzyme activities. Biology Fertility Soils, 43, 617-620. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00374-006-0158-6
[18]	Mandal, A., Patra, A.K., Singh, D., Swarup, A. and Mastro, R.E. (2007) Effect of long term application of manure and fertilizer on biological and biochemical activities in soil during crop development stage. Bioresource Technology, 98, 3585-3592. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.biortech.2006.11.027
[19]	Tarafdar, J.C. and Claassen, N. (1988) Organic phosphorrus compounds as a phosphorus source for higher plants through the activity of phosphatases produced by plant roots and microorganisms. Biology Fertility Soils, 5, 308-312. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/BF00262137
[20]	Nannipieri, P., Grego, S. and Ceccanti, B. (1990) Ecological significance of the biological activity in soil. In: Bollag, J.M. and Stotzky, G., Eds., Soil Biochemistry (Vol. 6), Marcel Dekker, New York, 293-355.
[21]	Wu, W.-X., Ye, Q.-F., Min, H.G., Duan, X.-J. and Jin, W.M. (2004) Bt-transgenic rice straw affects the culturable microbiota and dehydrogenase and phosphatase activities in a flooded paddy soil. Soil Biology Biochemistry, 36, 289-295. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.soilbio.2003.09.014
[22]	Donegan, K.K., Schaller, D.L., Stone, J.K., Ganio, L.M., Reed, G., Hamm, P.B. and Seidler, R.J. (1996) Microbial populations, fungal species diversity and plant pathogen levels in field plots of potato plants expressing the Bacillus thuringiensis var. Tenebrionis endotoxin. Transgenic Research, 5, 25-35. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/BF01979919
[23]	Sarkar, B., Patra A.K. and Purakayastha, T.J. (2008) Transgenic Bt-cotton affects enzyme activity and nutrient availability in a sub-tropical Inceptisol. Journal of Agronomy Crop Science, 194, 289-296. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1439-037X.2008.00312.x
[24]	Masto, R.E., Chhonkar, P.K., Singh, D. and Patra, A.K. (2006) Changes in soil biological and biochemical characteristics in a long-term field trial on a sub-tropical inceptisol. Soil Biology Biochemistry, 38, 1577-1582. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.soilbio.2005.11.012
[25]	Shen, R.F., Cai, H. and Gong, W.H. (2006) Transgenic Bt cotton has no apparent effect on enzymatic activities or functional diversity of microbial communities in rhizosphere soil. Plant Soil, 285, 149-159. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11104-006-9000-z