Abstract
Among the major concerns raised about the commercialization of transgenic herbicide-resistant crop cultivars are the fear that such lines will increase chemical usage and non-sustainable agronomic practices, that the transgenes will not be efficacious under field conditions, or that there will be an agronomic penalty, such as reduced seed yield, in exchange for the new trait. To address these concerns, transgenic sulfonylurea-resistant flax (Linum usitatissimum L.) lines were tested in replicated, randomized field trials over three years. The results show that at least one transgenic line is fully resistant to the field doses of the herbicides, shows no agronomic penalties regardless of the presence or absence of the herbicides, and will lead to less chemical usage and more sustainable agronomic practices in commercial production.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Beversdorf, W.D. and Hume, D. (1984) OAC Triton spring rapeseed.Can. J. Plant Sci. 64, 1007–9.
Devine, M., Marles, S. and Hall, L. (1991) Inhibition of acetolactate synthase in susceptible and resistant biotypes ofStellaria media.Pesticide Sci. 31, 273–80.
Haughn, G., Smith, J., Mazur, B. and Somerville, C. (1988) Transformation with a mutantArabidopsis acetolactate synthase gene renders tobacco resistant to sulfonylurea herbicides.Mol. Gen. Genet. 211, 266–71.
Hutchison, J., Shapiro, R. and Sweetser, P. (1984) Metabolism of chlorsulfuron by tolerant broadleaves.Pesticide Biochem. Physiol. 22, 243–7.
Jordan M.C. and McHughen, A. (1988) Glyphosate tolerant flax plants fromAgrobacterium mediated gene transfer.Pl. Cell Rep. 7, 281–4.
McHughen, A. (1989)Agrobacterium mediated transfer of chlorsulfuron resistance to commercial flax cultivars.Plant Cell Rep. 8, 445–9.
McHughen, A. (1994) Assessment of the impact and performance of transgenic plants. In: Marchall, G. and Walters, D., (eds),Molecular Biology in Crop Protection, pp. 201–21. London: Chapman and Hall.
McHughen, A. and Holm, F.A. (1991) Herbicide resistant transgenic flax field test: agronomic performance in normal and sulfonylurea containing soils.Euphytica 55, 49–56.
McHughen, A. and Rowland, G.G. (1991) The effect of T-DNA on the agronomic performance of transgenic flax plants.Euphytica 55, 269–75.
McHughen, A., Browne, R., Kneeshaw, D. and Jordan, M. (1986) Ti-mediated transformation and regeneration of flax plants in vitro. In: Somers, D.A., Gengenbach, B., Biesboer, D., Hackett, W. and Green, C.E. (eds), VI International Association for Plant Tissue Culture Congress, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA.
Rowland, G.G. and Bhatty, R. (1987) Vimy flax.Can. J. Pl. Sci. 67, 245–7.
Rowland, G.G., Kenaschuk, E.O. and Bhatty R. (1990) Somme Flax.Can. J. Pl. Sci. 70, 545–6.
Saskatchewan Department of Agriculture and Food (1993) Weed control in field and forage crops. Saskatchewan Department of Agriculture and Food. Regina, Saskatchewan.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
McHughen, A., Holm, F.A. Transgenic flax with environmentally and agronomically sustainable attributes. Transgenic Research 4, 3–11 (1995). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01976495
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01976495