THE EFFECT OF T-DNA ON THE AGRONOMIC PERFORMANCE OF TRANSGENIC FLAX PLANTS

Registration and commercial release of crop cultivars improved using recombinant DNA technologies will require extensive field testing of the transgenic lines. In addition to testing the efficacy of the transferred gene(s), regulatory bodies and farmers need data from large scale agronomic studies to provide assurance that the foreign DNA does not adversely affect normal agronomic productivity or quality of the crop. Here, five transgenic sulfonylurea resistant flax (Linum usitatissimum) lines were included in a multiple location cultivar registration trial, evaluated and compared with four standard commercial cultivars and 24 other (conventionally produced) breeding lines. The transgenic lines did not appear to be affected by T-DNA for any quality or agronomic parameter tested, including yield.