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Drought-Tolerant Biotech Wheat Approved for Cultivation in the United States [1]

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Date: 2024-08-28

USDA-APHIS has approved domestic cultivation of HB4, a genetically modified wheat that is drought tolerant. (DTN file photo)

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (DTN) -- HB4 wheat, a drought-tolerant genetically modified wheat variety, can be safely grown and bred in the United States, according to the USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS). The agency's determination makes the U.S. the fourth country in the world to green-light production of HB4 wheat, following Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay.

In an Aug. 27 letter posted to the APHIS Regulatory Status Review Table, APHIS Deputy Administrator for Biotechnology Regulatory Services Bernadette Juarez wrote the agency had completed its review of the wheat technology and "did not identify any plausible pathway" by which HB4 wheat posed an increased plant pest risk relative to other cultivated plants.

"Once APHIS determines that a plant product is unlikely to pose an increased plant pest risk relative to its comparator, and, thus, is not a plant pest or a plant that requires regulation because it is capable of introducing or disseminating a plant pest, APHIS has no authority to regulate it under 7 CFR part 340," Juarez wrote of the regulations for organisms modified or produced through genetic engineering. "Accordingly, your wheat is not subject to the regulations under 7 CFR part 340."

APHIS' determination for HB4 extends to any progeny of the modified plant that is derived from crosses with other nonmodified plants or other modified plants that are also not subject to the regulations in 7 CFR part 340.

WHEAT WITH LESS WATER

As a GM crop, HB4 wheat contains HaHB4, a transcription factor isolated from sunflower that modulates the expression of several hundred genes providing drought tolerance. In the face of drought, HB4 generates more antioxidant and osmoprotectant molecules, delaying cellular deterioration and allowing the plant to maintain photosynthesis until rain returns. HB4 wheat also is tolerant to glufosinate herbicide.

In an interview with DTN earlier this year, Martin Mariani Ventura, global seeds and traits manager at Bioceres, said data from three seasons of field trials in 34 different locations in Argentina showed that when environmental conditions limited yield to less than 30 bushels per acre (bpa), varieties with HB4 technology yielded 38% more on average than the same wheat variety without the technology. The increase was even more pronounced -- 51% more on average -- when looking at data from 2022-23, a season during which Argentina suffered through a major drought.

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[1] Url: https://www.dtnpf.com/agriculture/web/ag/crops/article/2024/08/28/drought-tolerant-biotech-wheat

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