Determination of environmental safety of Agrevo Canada Inc.'s glufosinate ammonium-tolerant canola.

  • Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada
Date:
1995
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Determination of environmental safety of Agrevo Canada Inc.'s glufosinate ammonium-tolerant canola. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    Agronomic characteristics such as seed production, time to maturity, flowering period, and male and female fertility were compared to those of unmodified B. napus counterparts. Effects of HCN92 residues on growth and productivity of the following season's grain, forage, and pulse crops were assessed. AgrEvo has also provided data on HNC92's survival adaptations: silique shattering potential, seed dormancy, seed dispersal mechanisms, vegetative vigor, reproductive characteristics, and the emergence in subsequent years of volunteer plants under mechanical or chemical fallow conditions. Stress adaptation was evaluated, including susceptibilities to various B. napus pests and pathogens, to abiotic stresses such as soil salinity and moisture regimes, and to herbicides other than glufosinate ammonium that are normally used on canola crops. Invasiveness studies were performed under disturbed, undisturbed, and agronomic conditions. Data to support the efficacy of HCN92 as a livestock feed were provided. A proximate analysis to include crude protein, crude fat, crude fiber, ash and gross energy were supplied for the whole seed, processed meal and oil content. Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) has reviewed the above information, in light of the assessment criteria for determining environmental safety of plants with novel traits, as described in the regulatory directive Dir94-08: potential of the PNT to become a weed of agriculture or to be invasive of natural habitats, potential for gene-flow to wild relatives whose hybrid offspring may become more weedy or more invasive, potential for the PNT to become a plant pest, potential impact of the PNT or its gene products on non-target species, including humans, and potential impact on biodiversity. AAFC has also reviewed the above information in light of the assessment criteria for determining safety and efficacy of livestock feed, as described in Pro94-04: potential impact on livestock, and potential impact on livestock nutrition. III. Description of the Novel Traits 1. Glufosinate Ammonium Tolerance: Phosphinothricin (PPT), the active ingredient of glufosinate ammonium, inhibits glutamine synthetase, which results in the accumulation of lethal levels of ammonium in susceptible plants within hours of application.
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