Muchaonyerwa P., Waladde S., Nyamugafata P., Mpepereki S., Ristori G.G.
Dept. of Soil Sci. and Agric. Eng., University of Zimbabwe, Box MP 167, Mt Pleasant, Harare, Zimbabwe; Department of Zoology, University of Fort Hare, 5700 Alice, South Africa; Istituto Genesi Ecologia Suolo, CNR Firenze, Italy
Muchaonyerwa, P., Dept. of Soil Sci. and Agric. Eng., University of Zimbabwe, Box MP 167, Mt Pleasant, Harare, Zimbabwe, Department of Zoology, University of Fort Hare, 5700 Alice, South Africa; Waladde, S., Department of Zoology, University of Fort Hare, 5700 Alice, South Africa; Nyamugafata, P., Dept. of Soil Sci. and Agric. Eng., University of Zimbabwe, Box MP 167, Mt Pleasant, Harare, Zimbabwe; Mpepereki, S., Dept. of Soil Sci. and Agric. Eng., University of Zimbabwe, Box MP 167, Mt Pleasant, Harare, Zimbabwe; Ristori, G.G., Istituto Genesi Ecologia Suolo, CNR Firenze, Italy
The persistence of the Bacillus thuringiensis subsp. kurstaki (Btk) toxin (Cry1Ab protein) from Bt maize (MON810, Yieldgard®) residues incorporated in a vertisol (739 g clay kg-1) was investigated. The maize residues were incubated in the soil for 4 weeks, and activity of the toxin in the residues was bioassayed using larvae of the diamondback moth, Plutella xylostella (Lepidoptera: Yponomeutidae). Corrected mortality of P. xylostella in the bioassays decreased from 76% to 30% in less than a week of incubation in the soil. In addition to the above observations, the effects of Btk, Bt subsp. israelensis (Bti), and Bt subsp. tenebrionis (Btt) proteins on the soil microbiota were examined using a vertisol, an alfisol, and an oxisol. The pre-incubated soils (7 days after moisture adjustment) were treated with crystal proteins of Btk, Bti, and Btt and incubated for further a 7-day period. Microbial biomass carbon (MBC) and counts of culturable bacteria and fungi were determined. The proteins did not show effects on MBC or bacterial and fungal counts, possibly as a result of adsorption of the proteins on soil particles, which could have rendered the proteins inaccessible for microbial utilization. Microbial biomass carbon and counts arranged in decreasing order were vertisol>oxisol>alfisol, similar to the amounts of organic C and clay in the soils. However, bacteria and fungi counts were higher in the vertisol than in the alfisol and the oxisol soils. Our observations suggest that larvicidal proteins produced by different subspecies of Bt and Bt maize could persist in tropical soils as a result of adsorption on soil clays but that there were no observable effect on the soil microbiota. © 2004 Kluwer Academic Publishers.
ecological impact; genetically modified organism; maize; persistence; protein; soil microorganism; Africa; Eastern Hemisphere; Southern Africa; Sub-Saharan Africa; World; Zimbabwe; Bacillus thuringiensis; Bacillus thuringiensis serovar kurstaki; Bacteria (microorganisms); Fungi; Lepidoptera; Microbiota; Plutella xylostella; Yponomeutidae; Zea mays