The U.S. Department of Agriculture has cleared the way for cultivation of genetically modified tall fescue without conducting an environmental review of the new crop, according to a story in The Capital Press.
The Scotts Miracle-Gro Co. developed the glyphosate-resistant turfgrass variety with genes from other plants through a process known as biolistics, in which DNA-coated metal particles are injected into the plant cell.
Because the method does not involve the use of a plant pest for gene transfer, the USDA has no authority to regulate the tall fescue, according to a document recently released by the agency.
Other glyphosate-resistant crops common in agriculture were made using a soil pathogen, which required the USDA to study the plants before deregulating them.
Glyphosate-resistant grasses, while convenient for growers, can be troublesome for others.
Scotts began to renew its biotechnology program after a regulated variety of Roundup-ready creeping bentgrass escaped a central Oregon field in 2003 and resulted in a $500,000 civil penalty from USDA. The bentgrass cultivar has been stuck in regulatory limbo as the USDA has not approved it to be grown commercially without restrictions.
However, over the past four years the company has persuaded the USDA?s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service that several biotech varieties of Kentucky bluegrass and St. Augustinegrass did not come under its regulatory jurisdiction.
Genetically modified tall fescue, which Scotts has also altered to grow shorter, thicker and darker green, is the latest grass crop to be cleared by USDA after Scotts notified the agency that it planned to begin field testing the variety.
Naturally occurring resistance from repeated glyphosate spraying has already caused problems for Northwest hazelnut growers and farmers in the Midwest who use annual ryegrass as a cover crop, said Bryan Ostlund, administrator of the Oregon Tall Fescue Commission.
Turf-type tall fescue that is common on golf courses, is not considered a weedy grass, Ostlund told The Capital Press.
Unlike Kentucky bluegrass, which largely produces seeds asexually, tall fescue is more likely to cross-pollinate with other grasses of its variety, the story said.
While the potential for cross-pollination can be mitigated during commercial seed production, it would be more difficult to control gene flow after the fescue, a perennial crop, is released.
- The Capital Press