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Benefits of Bt cotton counterbalanced by secondary pests? Perceptions of ecological change in China

Environmental Monitoring and Assessment volume 173, pages 985–994 (2011)Cite this article

An Erratum to this article was published on 05 August 2012

Abstract

In the past, scientific research has predicted a decrease in the effectiveness of Bt cotton due to the rise of secondary and other sucking pests. It is suspected that once the primary pest is brought under control, secondary pests have a chance to emerge due to the lower pesticide applications in Bt cotton cultivars. Studies on this phenomenon are scarce. This article furnishes empirical evidence that farmers in China perceive a substantial increase in secondary pests after the introduction of Bt cotton. The research is based on a survey of 1,000 randomly selected farm households in five provinces in China. We found that the reduction in pesticide use in Bt cotton cultivars is significantly lower than that reported in research elsewhere. This is consistent with the hypothesis suggested by recent studies that more pesticide sprayings are needed over time to control emerging secondary pests, such as aphids, spider mites, and lygus bugs. Apart from farmers’ perceptions of secondary pests, we also assessed their basic knowledge of Bt cotton and their perceptions of Bt cotton in terms of its strengths and shortcomings (e.g., effectiveness, productivity, price, and pesticide use) in comparison with non-transgenic cotton.

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Affiliations

  1. Department of Agro-biotechnology, China Agricultural University, Beijing, China

    Jennifer H. Zhao

  2. Leiden Institute for Area Studies (LIAS), Faculty of Humanities, Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands

    Peter Ho & Hossein Azadi

Authors
  1. Jennifer H. Zhao
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  2. Peter Ho
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  3. Hossein Azadi
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Peter Ho.

Additional information

An erratum to this article can be found at http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10661-012-2699-5

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Zhao, J.H., Ho, P. & Azadi, H. Benefits of Bt cotton counterbalanced by secondary pests? Perceptions of ecological change in China. Environ Monit Assess 173, 985–994 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-010-1439-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-010-1439-y

Keywords

  • Pest management
  • GM crops
  • Bt cotton
  • Ecological change
  • Biosafety
  • Bollworm
  • Helicoverpa armigera