Differential Responses of Conventional and Bt-Transgenic Cotton to Potassium Deficiency

Abstract

ABSTRACT Bacillus thuringensis (Bt) transgenic (insect-resistant) cotton cultivars senesce prematurely under potassium (K+) deficiency, more often than conventional cultivars, in the North China Plain. To verify if Bt-transgenic cotton was more susceptible to K+ deficit, two transgenic cultivars, ‘CCRI 41’ and ‘DP 99B’, and two conventional cultivars, ‘CCRI 35’ and ‘CCRI 36’, selected from widely used cultivars in China, were used in a seedling hydroponic study. The culture solution K+ concentration was 0.5 mM for high K+ and 0.02 mM for low K+ conditions. Seedlings of all four cultivars accumulated more dry matter and K+ when grown at high K+ than low K+ conditions. However, under low K+ condition, the dry weight and K+ content of Bt-transgenic cultivars CCRI 41 and DP 99B were lower than those of the conventional cultivars CCRI 36 and CCRI 35. The results indicated that Bt-transgenic cultivars CCRI 41 and DP 99B were more sensitive to K+ deficiency than conventional cultivars CCRI 36 and CCRI 35, which could be the reason for premature senescence symptoms observed from fields of Bt-transgenic cotton under K+ deficiency. Seedlings of all four cultivars had a higher K+ use efficiency (KUE) under low K+ than high K+ conditions, but the KUE did not account for the differential responses between Bt-transgenic and conventional cultivars at the low K+ concentration. The K+ depletion results did not reveal the mechanism for the above differential responses in Vmax and Km of the seedlings either. Further experiments with more cultivars are needed to clarify the differential mechanisms in these genotypes.