Biosafety of Bt-crop in soil ecosystem: A review

Transgenic crops, a new product of agricultural biotechnology has its own share of environmental risks and benefits. Present agricultural management practices and new ecosystems have their own impacts on the environment and further any additional negative effect of transgenic crops may mitigate their positive impacts as well as increase the background value of negative impacts due to new agriculture practices. Several risk assessment experiments on transgenic plants reported observations on changes in their respective aboveground environment and their biota. Very few study reports are available on the effect of transgenic plants and their products (released in the soil) on soil biota (both invertebrates and microorganisms) and soil processes mediated by them. Moreover, observation of these studies does not indicate anything conclusively and create a confusion regarding impact of transgenic plants on soil flora, fauna and processes. We aim to concisely review the impact of the transgenic crop on soil ecosystem.