Field resistance to the Bacillus thuringiensis protein Cry1Ac expressed in Bollgard(®) hybrid cotton in pink bollworm, Pectinophora gossypiella (Saunders), populations in India.

Background: Bollgard(®) cotton, expressing Cry1Ac insecticidal protein, was approved for commercial planting in India in 2002, and by 2009 constituted 87% of the Indian crop, reducing losses from lepidopteran pests, including pink bollworm (PBW), Pectinophora gossypiella. Inadequate control of PBW in fields of single-gene Bollgard cotton was reported in 2009; surveys revealed heavy infestations of PBW in Bollgard, restricted to Gujarat state, but not elsewhere in India.

Results: Bioassays of PBW strains from Bollgard bolls showed that, while susceptible PBW could not complete development to third and later instar at 10.