Effects of transgenic maize expressing the Cry1Ab protein (event MON810) on locally adapted earthworms in a sandy loam soil in the Central Eastern Cape, South Africa

Document Abstract / Summary Overview

Abstract This field study investigated effects of growing Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) maize (MON810) on local earthworms in the Central Eastern Cape, South Africa. Two Bt maize cultivars (DKC61-25B and PAN6Q- 321B) and their near-isolines (DKC61-24 and PAN6777) were grown in the 2009/2010 and 2010/2011 summer seasons. Earthworms were sampled after six, nine and eighteen weeks in 2009/2010 and after six, twelve and twenty-one weeks in the 2010/2011 season. The four maize treatments had similar earthworm counts, irrespective of sampling time, in both seasons. Sampling time had no effect in the 2009/2010 season, whereas the earthworm counts at 21 weeks after planting (WAP) were lower than the other two sampling times during the 2010/2011 season. The findings suggested that, at least in the short-term, growing Bt maize does not have negative effects on the numbers of the earthworms in the Central Eastern Cape, South Africa.