Vol. 51—1997 - NorthEastern Weed Science Society

170
to $15 an ere depending upon how many sprays are necessary. Thus, there is a major potential
benefit to .S. soybean growers from the glyphosateresistant soybeans. Minor crop growers
who are s nding hundreds of dollars per acre for weed control look at this kind of data and say:
umpkins? Why not tomatoes? Think of the reductionsin vegetable weed control costs
yphosate sprays at $15 an acre replacinghandweeding,plastic or more expensive
t are the costs of developingan herbicideresistantcultivar? The technology isn't
cheap. It s estimated that the current transformationof a cultivar costs from $500,000 to $1
million. top of that, it's necessary to add the costs of the herbicideregistration to go with the
transform d cultivar. The cost of a single herbicideregistrationcan also range from $500,000 to
$1 millio The cost of the herbicideregistrationcan be much lower depending on IR-4 inputs
and EPA aivers of test requirements. But it's not clear how the developmentof herbicide
resistant ultivars reduces the cost problem. It appearsthat the use of biotechnology to develop
herbicide resistant crops adds to the cost of developmentand registrationand does not make the
cost issu less important
vertheless, some work is ongoing with transformingvegetables. There has been a total
f herbicides for Florida muck lettuce for ten years. So, there has been some work
g herbicide resistant lettuce plants.
ere has been success transforming"South Bay" head lettuce so that some of the
ed lettuce lines tolerate up to 32 pounds of glyphosateover the top. Much of this
research as conducted by universityresearchersin Gainesville. It's not a Monsanto undertaking.
Currentl ,the researchers are assessingthe horticulturalacceptabilityof the transformed lettuce.
Does it te the same? Does it look the same? Does it weigh the same? As a result of changing
a charac ristic in the plant, other characteristicsmay be affected. Consumerswant certain types
of lettu ,and if the herbicide resistantcultivar has an unacceptablehorticulturalcharacteristic,it
will not planted.
e other issue is whether other lettuce lines will be transformed. "South Bay" head
a cultivar adapted to southern Florida. What about leaf lettuce? What about romaine?
several lettuce cultivars of importancein the Northeast,and some group would have to
incur th expense of transformingthese cultivarsand assessinghorticulturalacceptabilityand
weed co trol and securing the manufacturers' cooperationto apply for an herbicide registration.
orne recent experience in Idaho with transformedpotatoesis illustrativeof this
horticul acceptabilityproblem. Researcherssuccessfullytransformed"Lemhi Russet"
potatoes to tolerate bromoxynil. They inserted a gene and the transformedpotatoes tolerated up
to four d one half kilograms per hectare of bromoxynil. Again, a successfuluse of
biotee ology in producing an herbicideresistantcultivar with benefitsfor weed control.
mere
e researchers estimate that the use of bromoxynilat low rates per acre could potentially
e pounds of herbicides used in Idaho potatoes from between 40 and 85%. In Idaho,
metribuzin resistant pigweeds,and over the past ten years, it has been necessary to
herbicide use. With bromoxynil,weed control problemscould be reduced with a