ENVIRO ONMENTA AL IMPA ACT AND RISK AS SESSMEN NT OF GENET TICALLY MODIFIE ED PEAN NUT (Arac chis hypog gea L.)

Abstract

The development of transgenic crops is extensively changing the landscape in agricultural production and at the same time raising world-wide debate regarding the safety as well as regulatory process of genetically modified food and feed crops. Genetically engineered peanut crop having rcg3 and bar gene (resistant to tikka disease and tolerant to herbicide) were subjected to risk assessment according to guidelines given by OECD. In the first year experiment was conducted in the green house at National Agricultural Research Centre, Islamabad. In second year transgenic plants were grown along with their non transgenic counterparts at NARC , Islamabad, Groundnut Research Station, Attock (GRS) and Barani agricultural research Institute (BARI), Chakwal for evaluation of performance and biosafety concerns in different environmental conditions. No horizental or vertical gene flow was observed from the transgenic plants to non transgenic plants and soil microbial communities. Transgenic seeds were also found to be substantially equivalent with their non transgenic counterparts in terms of protein, fat , fatty acid and micronutrient contents in the seeds etc. Aflatoxin levels were also evaluated using HPLC in transgenic and non transgenic seeds and it was found that insertion of rcg3 gene significantly controlled the aflatoxins in transgenic seeds. As Peanut grains are directly consumed by end user, therefore crop was also evaluated for its allergy and toxicity potential by using rabbit as test animal. Genotoxicity and cytotoxicity among the test animals was studied using Comet and micronuclei assay respectively. The resulting images obtained from the Comet and micronuclei assay revealed no DNA damage and all lymphocytes appeared round with single nuclei. Genetically engineered strains of bacteria 12 Salmonella typhimurium also indicated no mutagenic potential of transgenic seeds. M crops showed significant increase in the yield and yield parameters and this increase was maximum in the plants having rcg 3 gene mainly through the control of fungus disease. Therefore, it can be concluded that although in the current study GM peanut had not exerted any toxic effect in the specific conditions of the experiment. More detailed and through investigation is required in this regard by designing some multigenerational studies keeping in view the use of peanut as a food and feed crop.