BMELV coexistence research programme

"Our experiments only make sense if we use Bt maize."

The ban on cultivating the genetically modified Bt maize line MON810 that was issued by Germany’s Agriculture Minister, Ilse Aigner, at the beginning of April may also have an impact on the government’s own research. A research programme of the German Federal Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Consumer Protection (BMELV) that has been running since 2005 has been using MON810 maize to investigate outcrossing rates to neighbouring conventional crops. Can the trials continue in 2009 as planned? GMO Safety asked Gerhard Rühl of the Julius Kühn Institute (JKI), who is coordinating the trials.

BMELV’s federal research programme on safeguarding coexistence was initiated in 2004 by the Agriculture Minister at the time, Renate Künast of the German Green party. The aim of the research is to draw up measures to enable GM and non-GM maize cultivation to coexist. The main focus is on ensuring that the EU’s 0.9% labelling threshold is not exceeded.

Dr Gerhard Rühl, Coordinator of the BMELV research programme for safeguarding the coexistence of GM and non-GM agriculture
Institute for Crop and Soil Science, Julius Kühn Institute (JKI) Braunschweig

Since 2005 a number of trials using different systems have been measuring the outcrossing rates of genetically modified Bt maize into conventional maize in order to derive recommendations for separation distances. The researchers are also testing the effect of e.g. buffer planting and the alignment of maize rows on the outcrossing rate. BMELV uses the results of the research to develop/check rules of good farming practice for the cultivation of genetically modified maize in the context of the Genetic Engineering Act.

GMO Safety: You have been conducting outcrossing experiments with maize since 2005. One of the maize lines you use is the genetically modified Bt maize MON 810. Can you continue your research in 2009 in view of the Agriculture Minister’s cultivation ban?

Gerhard Rühl: This year we are only allowed to continue with the field trials that use a coloured maize test system. We use two different test systems in our field trials. For quantifying outcrossing rates we use a system that consists of Bt maize and the relevant isogenic line . For a qualitative assessment of the effects we use a coloured maize test system with a yellow-grained maize variety as the pollen donor and a white-grained maize variety as the recipient.

GMO Safety: According to Ilse Aigner, shouldn’t research into genetically modified plants still be possible?

Gerhard Rühl: The field trials were initiated by BMELV and are agreed with the relevant government departments each year. Since we are cultivating the Bt maize for research purposes we are still waiting for a green light so that we can use the Bt maize test system again, at least next year.

GMO Safety: Which trials were planned for 2009?

Gerhard Rühl: In the years 2005-2007 we focused on testing the outcrossing rates of Bt maize at different separation distances (24 – 102 metres). Since 2008 we have primarily been researching the effectiveness of additional measures in reducing the outcrossing rate to neighbouring conventional maize fields.

This year for the first time we were planning to carry out tests with a field separation distance of 300 metres. That is the prescribed distance between GM maize fields and organic maize fields. This field trial only makes sense with a test system consisting of Bt maize and the isogenic line, so we have not been able to set it up so far this year. This year we will use the coloured maize test system to set up field trials at four sites with different crops sown between the maize plots and we will also investigate the effect of the drilling direction in the recipient field and the depth of the pollen donor field.

GMO Safety: What effect will the sudden interruption of the trials have on the meaningfulness of individual results and for the research programme as a whole?

Gerhard Rühl: Crop field trials should be conducted over a period of at least three years. This is particularly important for our coexistence studies because we designed the trials as worst-case scenarios, i.e. we want to collect information about outcrossing rates under unfavourable conditions. This means, first of all, that the two neighbouring maize fields flower at the same time and that a strong wind blows from the direction of the Bt maize field towards the conventional maize plot during the maize-flowering season. In particular, the effectiveness of planting a cordon around the Bt maize field, as an additional measure to reduce outcrossing, has only been tested over one year. Since we only started our outcrossing research very late, in 2005 at the same time as commercial cultivation began, it would have been desirable to conclude the maize studies before the possible reapproval of MON810 cultivation next year.

GMO Safety: Thank you for talking to us.