China, the world's top grower of genetically modified (GMO) cotton, has approved commercialising a new hybrid variety, which should help the country cut its production shortfall in the commodity, a government scientist said on Monday.
The hybrid variety of insect-resistant Bt cotton - which contains a bacteria that kills bollworms - would yield 26.4 percent more cotton than the current strains, including one developed by biotech giant Monsanto Co, said the scientist.
"The new hybrid strain won approval this year and we expect it will be grown in large areas from the year after next," said Zhang Rui, a member of the research team under the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences. China, the world's top consumer of cotton, is expected in the 12 months to August 2006 to import as much as 3.2 million tonnes of the fibre, the largest amount ever imported by a single country, due to smaller acreages and larger textile exports.
Many farmers have shifted to wheat from cotton as Beijing has promoted grain production to ensure its food security.
Zhang said the strain could produce 100 kg per mu (0.07 hectare) of cotton, or 26.4 percent more than the Monsanto variety. It would be planted in a demonstration area of 10,000 mu next year in northern provinces along the Yellow River.
Last year China produced 6.32 million tonnes of cotton, of which 60 percent was Bt cotton developed either in China or Monsanto.
Some scientists have warned the pest was developing resistance against the gene-spliced Bt cotton, commercialised in China in 1996. Xue Dayuan from Nanjing Institute of Environmental Sciences has also said Bt cotton was not effective in controlling secondary pests, such as cotton aphids, and that the population of some pests had increased to replace bollworms as primary pests.
"In theory, such resistance exists, but so far we have not found such cases during large-area expansion," said the academy's Zhang.