Final Report

A NOVEL arrowhead TECHNOLOGY for

Low Cost Hybrid Bt-Cotton Seed Production

Demonstration of CHA Technology at Sindh Pacific Seed Corporation farm, Tando Allahyar Contact Person: Mr. Muhammad Atif, MD/SPSC, Cell # 03003081810

By Muhammad Boota Srwar Federal Seed Certification & Registration Department G-9/4, Islamabad, Ph: 051-9260126

November, 2010 Bulk of the Hybrid Bt-Cotton seed production in China, India, Israel and Vietnam is being done through manual emasculation and pollination resulting in huge cost of hybrid seed production which is ultimately transferred to the cotton growers.

Fig: Manual emasculation of cotton flowers (India)

The novel hybrid Bt-cotton seed production technology replaces cumbersome laborious job of emasculation with low cost Chemical Hybridizing Agent (CHA).
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Technology provider

SEED CARE SERVICES

TECHNOLOGY DEMONSTRATION FACILITATOR

Federal Seed Certification & Registration Department

Technology consumer

HYBRID SEED PRODUCING COMPANIES

TECHNOLOGY BENEFICIERIES

Cotton Growers of Pakistan Cotton Ginning & Textile Industry

Benefits of Hybrid Cotton Seed Production 1. Traditional breeding takes long time in combining beneficial traits available in two different varieties whereas hybrids instantly integrate such traits in one go. 2. High yields, good fiber quality, bollworm resistance, herbicide tolerance, CLCuV resistance, heat and drought tolerance traits can be integrated through hybrid seed production. 3. Studies indicate increase in yield up to 25% due to hybrid vigor, depending upon genetic distance. 4. Hybrid Bt-cotton with CLCuV resistance and herbicide tolerance traits will reduce cost of insecticides and weed-control to the tune of 50% and boost farmers yield and income by 30%.
5.

Cotton hybrids may be more flexible to tolerate heatwaves and to ensure stable yields.

6. Hybrid seeds provide inbuilt technology protection, in absence of plant breeders rights, to the seed companies.
7.

Hybrid seeds will ensure high ginning out-turn and uniform cotton quality for the benefit of ginning and textile industry respectively.

8. National goal of increasing cotton yields to meet industry needs can be realized through extensive use of hybrid Bt-cotton seeds.
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History of CHA Technology Development for Cotton

1. Cytoplasmic male sterility based hybrid seed production is being done for various crops but so far such economically viable system is not available for cotton. 2. Efforts have been made world-wide for development of chemical hybridization agents for cotton hybrid seed production but the gametocides tried were neither stable nor cost-effective. 3. Pakistan Agriculture Research Council (PARC) is also working on identifying suitable gametocide for cotton through at least 5 development projects but still the results are not encouraging. 4. Pakistan Central Cotton Committee (PCCC) also tried for suitable gametocide for cotton but no reliable result came out.
5. Seed Care Services (SCS) started work on this issue in 2007 at

Hyderabad with its own resources. Known gametocides were tried individually but none came up to expectations.
6. In the year 2008 various combinations of gametocides,

herbicides, defoliants and hormones were tried and two combinations were found satisfactory as hybridizing agents. 7. In 2009 low cost combination CHA was put to intensive trial at Hyderabad for synchronization of genotype x temperature regime x physiological stage of the plant x dose x frequency of application. On the basis of the results synchronization formula was finalized.
8. This year (2010) the CHA technology for hybrid cotton seed

production was subjected to extensive nation-wide trials, from Kunri to Pind Dadan Khan, to know strength of technology for fine tuning of practical application.
9. The professionals visiting the trials indicated low boll-setting in

female parent; hence fruiting enhancer was sprayed twice with encouraging results at P. D. Khan, Khanewal & T. A. Yar.

The Novel Arrowhead Technology for Low Cost Hybrid Bt-Cotton Seed Production
1. China, India, Israel and Vietnam are leading hybrid cotton seed

producing countries however bulk of the Hybrid Bt-Cotton seed production is being done through manual emasculation and pollination resulting in huge cost of hybrid seed production which is ultimately transferred to the cotton growers. 2. Hybrid cotton seed production requires daily 10-15 workers per acre for 100-120 flowering days to intensively work for emasculation and pollination of female flowers and this labor cost constitute 60% of total cost of hybrid cotton seed production.

Emasculation

Pollination

3. The novel hybrid Bt-cotton seed production technology replaces

cumbersome laborious job of emasculation with low cost Chemical Hybridizing Agent (CHA).
4. The work on bee-pollination regime is underway to replace

hand pollination in hybrid cotton seed production fields to further cut labor cost.
5. The cost of hybrid Bt-cotton seed production with CLCuV

tolerance will be reduced by 50% and the farmers will get high quality hybrid seed at reduced price.

Financial Analysis of the New Technology 1. National cotton seed requirement with standard germination is 40,000 MT and with relaxed germination is 65,000 MT. 2. If 25% area is targeted for hybrid Bt-cotton production then at least 20,000 acres are needed for hybrid seed production. 3. Labor cost of emasculation and pollination with average requirement of daily 10 workers for 100-120 days for 20,000 acres is estimated as Rs. 2,000 million. The emasculation work cost accordingly will be Rs. 1,300 million. 4. Studies show that labor cost of emasculation and pollination constitute 60% of the total seed production cost.
5.

The novel CHA technology will reduce cost of emasculation to the tune of Rs. 260 million thus saving Rs 1,040 million (50% of the hybrid cotton seed production cost).

6. Farmers will get hybrid Bt-cotton seed produced through CHA technology at 30% low price as compared to seed produced through conventional method. 7. The value of new CHA technology in case of 25% and 75% hybrid cotton production is Rs. 260 million and Rs. 780 million per annum respectively.

Successful Demonstration of Low Cost Hybrid Bt-Cotton Seed Production Technology At Sindh Pacific Seed Corporation farm, Tando Allahyar i) ii) iii) iv) v) vi) vii) Area planted with female parent: 0.05 acre Date of sowing of one female line: 22-5-2010 Date of first spray of CHA: 25-6-2010 Subsequent sprays of CHA: At intervals of one month Efficacy of CHA for emasculation: 99% Date of termination of crossing: 1-11-2010 Visited by: Professionals from Seed Companies, Sindh Agriculture University and Agriculture Research Institute, Tando Jam.

Problem encountered: viii)

ix) x)

xi)

Boll setting: At first medium; equal to boll setting in case of manual emasculation/pollination. Additional spray of boll-setting enhancer: 2 times; in September and October. Boll setting improved: Hybrid cotton seed yield from 0.05 acre was 40 kg; equal to 800 kg per acre; four times more than traditional hybrid seed production. Reduction in cost of hybrid seed production: 50% as compared to traditional

Traits Combined in Hybrid Bt-cotton Seed

xii)

Tando Allah Yar site: High-yield, Bollworm-resistance, Herbicide tolerance, high GOT, Good fiber quality. Pind Dadan Khan: Very high-yield, Bollworm-resistance, Herbicide tolerance, high GOT, Good fiber quality. PSC Khanewal: High-yield, CLCuV tolerance, Bollwormresistance, Herbicide tolerance, high GOT, Good fiber quality.

xiii)

xiv)

Boll-setting

Hybrid Seed Production field at SPSC farm, Tando Allah Yar (1)

Hybrid Seed Production field at SPSC farm, Tando Allah Yar (2)

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Hybrid Seed Production field at SPSC farm, Tando Allah Yar (3)

Preparation for spray of CHA under supervision of a Plant Breeder

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Photographs showing impact of Boll-setting Enhancer spray in hybrid seed production field at SPSC farm T. A. Yar

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Successful Hybrid Bt-cotton Seed Production at Punjab Seed Corporation Farm Khanewal

Photograph (Khanewal 9-7-10): Use of CHA resulted in complete male-sterility along with stigma elongation to eliminate chance selfing.
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Fast-Track Commercial Utilization of the CHA Technology Proposals are invited from reputed Private Seed Companies and public sector organizations (PARC, PCCC, PSC, SSC, etc) to avail free utilization of the CHA technology for Hybrid Bt-cotton Seed Production under fast-track scheme as detailed below:
Sr. Step Detail 1 Crossing for identification of best parent lines under covered tunnels 2 Field Trial for identifying best 3 hybrids 3 Seed multiplication of inbred lines 4 First evaluation of hybrids 5 Pilot Hybrid Bt-cotton seed production: 3 hybrids 6 Second Trial for identifying best 3 hybrids 7 Bee-Pollination Trial 8 Final appraisal of March Trial 9 Final appraisal of May Trials to select best hybrid Time-line November to February March to July January to May May May to November May to November May to Nov July December Remarks One acre land under tunnel is required At field of good farmers Four acre land required 100 acres land required At field of good farmers

Conclusion: Total work of Research and Development, Field Trials and Commercial Production will be completed in one year, without need of sophisticated labs or heavy investment. Hybrid Quality: The traits of Bollworm-resistance, CLCuV tolerance, Herbicide-tolerance, Heat-tolerance, High yield, High GOT and Good fiber quality will be instantly combined as per commercial needs. Cost of Hybrid Seed: Cost of hybrid Bt-cotton seed production will be cheapest in the world; with good prospects of seed export to Central Asian and African countries. Additional Benefit: During the same one year operation BeePollination will be standardized to completely eliminate labor work and to further reduce cost of hybrid seed production.

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