Int.J.Curr.Microbiol.App.Sci (2019) 8(5): 851-856 851 Original Research Article https://doi.org/10.20546/ijcmas.2019.805.100 Optimization of Nitrogen Content for Improved Cry1Ac Expression Level in Bt Cotton R. Peardon 1 , M. Devasahayam 2 , A. Maxton 1 and S.A. Masih 1* 1 Molecular and Cellular Engineering, Sam Higginbottom University of Agriculture, Technology and Sciences, Prayagraj, India-211007 2 Centre for Transgenic Technology, Sam Higginbottom University of Agriculture, Technology and Sciences, Prayagraj, India-211007 *Corresponding author ABSTRACT Introduction Pesticides are the main cause of loss to the farmers, every year hectares of crop get spoiled due to pesticides. To reduce that heavy loss implementation of chemicals as pesticides to control pest is usual in agriculture. There are many pesticides reported which are of both chemical and biological nature used in most of the countries to reduce crop losses. This issue is prominent in developing countries there farmers are most affected for agriculture crop loss due to high occurrence of pests. In India, estimated yearly agriculture production losses because of pests are as high as US$ 42.66 million. Whereas chemical pesticides are well known for their success rate, but their effect on soil and environment, footprints of residue in food products are subject of concern (Subhash et al., 2017). To overcome this problem mother nature has shown a way to treat our crops with toxins which are already present in our ecosystem, which is Cry protein. Extracted International Journal of Current Microbiology and Applied Sciences ISSN: 2319-7706 Volume 8 Number 05 (2019) Journal homepage: http://www.ijcmas.com Bacillus thuringiensis is produced crystalline proteins, these proteins were used in transgenic cotton to control insect pest. During present study, two trials were with 09 treatments plots of Bt cotton plants viz., 7, 14 and 21gm/m.sq. (T1, T2 amd T3) of nitrogen with one row combination of nBt cotton plants while T4, T5, T6 were having two rows combination of nBt cotton plants with same nitrogen treatment as in above mentioned plots whereas T7, T8 and T9 were only treatment with different concentration of nitrogen and there was no rows of nBt cotton plants around the plots were conducted. During this, Cry1Ac protein expression level was analyzed. The results were compared in two ways, one between the plots having same nBt rows but with different nitrogen concentration in the soil and another among overall plots. The expression level was high on initial days (30th day) that decrease gradually. Overall, T6 treatment showed highest Cry1ac expression i.e., 6.443(μg/gm) whereas lowest reported expression was in plot T7. These results show that the nitrogen content and different rows combination of the nBt expressed a prominent effect over the expression of Cry 1 Ac protein. Keywords Bt cotton (Bollgard- II), Nitrogen, nBt cotton, Cry1Ac expression Accepted: 10 April 2019 Available Online: 10 May 2019 Article Info