Development of Bt Collard as a Trap Crop for Cabbage

Abstract

This work seeks to protect crops from insect pests by combining approaches from biological control and biotechnology. More specifically, it aims to protect cabbage from diamondback moths (DBM) through use of a collard trap crop expressing insect-resistance genes from Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt). DBM lay more eggs on collard plants than on cabbage but the larvae that hatch from these eggs survive. Bt-transgenic collard plants would attract DBM egg-laying and would also kill the hatched larvae, providing more effective insect control in a mixed field of cabbage and collard.