Summary
Registration and commercial release of crop cultivars improved using recombinant DNA technologies will require extensive field testing of the transgenic lines. In addition to testing the efficacy of the transferred gene(s), regulatory bodies and farmers need data from large scale agronomic studies to provide assurance that the foreign DNA does not adversely affect normal agronomic productivity or quality of the crop. Here, five transgenic sulfonylurea resistant flax (Linum usitatissimum) lines were included in a multiple location cultivar registration trial, evaluated and compared with four standard commercial cultivars and 24 other (conventionally produced) breeding lines. The transgenic lines did not appear to be affected by T-DNA for any quality or agronomic parameter tested, including yield.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Anderson P.H., 1990. Hybrid corn. Science 249: 837.
Daun J. & P.B. Mazur, 1983. Use of gas-liquid chromatography for monitoring the fatty acid composition of Canadian rapeseed. JAOCS 60: 1751–1754.
Delannay X., B. Lavallee, R. Proksch, R. Fuchs, S. Sims, J. Greenplate, P. Marrone, R. Dodson, J. Augustine, J. Layton & D. Fischhoff, 1989. Field performance of transgenic tomato plants expressing the Bacillus thuringiensis var. kurstaki insect control protein. Bio/Technology 7: 1265–1269.
DeGreef W., R. Delon, M. De Block, J. Leemans & J. Botterman, 1989. Evaluation of herbicide resistance in transgenic crops under field conditions. Bio/Technology 7: 61–64.
Haughn G., J. Smith, B. Mazur & C. Somerville, 1988. Transformation with a mutant Arabidopsis acetolactate synthase gene renders tobacco resistant to sulfonylurea herbicidees. Mol. Gen. Genet. 211: 266–271.
Kaniewska W., C. Lawson, B. Sammons, L. Haley, J. Hart, X. Delannay & N. Tumer, 1990. Field resistance of transgenic Russet Burbank potato to effects of infection by Potato Virus X and Potato Virus Y. Bio/Technology 8: 750–754.
McHughen A., 1989. Agrobacterium mediated transfer of chlorsulfuron resistance to commercial flax cultivars. Plant Cell Rep. 8: 445–449.
McHughen, A. & F.R. Holm, 1991. Herbicide resistant transgenic flax field test: agronomic perormance in normal and sulfonylurea-containing soils. Euphytica (in press).
McHughen A., M. Jordan & S. McSheffrey, 1990. Two years of transgenic flax field tests: what do they tell us? In: H.J.J. Nijkamp, L.H.W. Van Der Plas & J. Van Aartrijk (Eds.), Progress in Plant Cellular and Molecular Biology, Proc. VIIth Int'l. Cong. Plant Tiss. and Cell Cult., pp. 207–211. Kluwer Academic Publ., Dordrecht.
Nelson R.S., S. McCormick, X. Delannay, P. Dube, J. Layton, E. Anderson, M. Kaniewska, R. Proksch, R. Horsch, S. Rogers, R. Fraley & R. Beachy, 1988. Virus tolerance, plant growth and field performance of transgenic tomato plants expressing coat protein from tobacco mosaic virus. Bio/Technology 6: 403–409.
Sligthtom J.L., P.P. Chee & D. Gonsalves, 1990. Field testing of cucumber plants which express the CMV coat protein gene: field plot design to test natural infection pressures. In: H.J.J. Nijkamp, L.H.W. Van Der Plas, J. Van Aartrijk (Eds.), Progress in Plant Cellular and Molecular Biology; Proc. VIIth Int'l Cong. Pl. Tiss. and Cell Cult., pp. 201–205. Kluwer Academic Publ., Dordrecht.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
McHughen, A., Rowland, G.G. The effect of T-DNA on the agronomic performance of transgenic flax plants. Euphytica 55, 269–275 (1991). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00021247
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00021247