Since the introduction of genetically modified cotton crop, which accounts more than 90% in the total area under cotton in the country, there has been a fear of genetic erosion and loss of biodiversity, a group of reputed cotton breeders have expressed. [...] ”Research on cotton gene has gone backward by more than 10 years as scientists have simply stopped working on the genetic mechanism of controlling bolwarm pests,” SS Patil, senior Cotton Breeder, University of Agricultural Sciences, Dharwad (Karnataka) told FE. He said due to overdependence on GM crop farmers have lost their traditional knowledge on seed production.