This paper is relevant to the impact areas in the following areas:
| Crops | Maize |
| Traits | Herbicide Tolerance, Insect Res. (BT), Insect Resistance |
| Countries | US |
| Regions | North America |
| Tags | hybrids, insect-resistance traits, triple-stack, US, yield |
'Triple-stack' corn hybrids containing genetically engineered traits conferring resistance to major lepidopteran and coleopteran insect pests and to the herbicide glyphosate (Roundup; Monsanto, St. Louis, MO) were planted on 17.8 million ha, approximately half of US corn fields in 2010. The ability of these hybrids to resist insect damage is well documented and farmer surveys report improved farm yields. However, field experiments have reported variable yield effects. Large, moderate and little change in yield have been reported across years and locations, reflecting variable feeding damage as insect populations shift and interactions between feeding damage and weather. Commercial corn breeding programs, which measure yield on millions of plots per year, provide a unique opportunity to observe yield effects over multiple years and locations. In experiments spanning five years and the US corn belt, transgenic insect-resistance traits improved average yield and yield stability, with trait effects increasing as control yield decreases. We estimate that adoption of transgenic seeds increased corn supply in the US by 8.4 million tonnes in 2010.
Transgenic insect resistance traits increase corn yield and yield stability (held on an external server, and so may require additional authentication details)
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