Effect of Transgenic LD05 Maize Harboring the m2cryAb-vip3A Fusion Gene on Biodiversity in the Field

The commercial application of genetically modified maize requires systematic assessment of its potential impacts on farmland biodiversity, which has become a core task in environmental safety evaluation. A two-year, single-site randomized complete block experiment with three replicate plots per treatment was conducted using LD05 carrying the m2cryAb-vip3A fusion gene. By direct observation and suction sampling, 54 arthropod species belonging to 12 orders and over 30 families were identified. LD05 exhibited significant resistance to target lepidopteran pests. For non-target arthropods, no statistically significant differences were observed between LD05 and Zheng58 in species richness, Shannon–Wiener diversity index, Simpson index, and Pielou index, and the population fluctuation trends of herbivorous pests and natural enemies were consistent between the two maize types, indicating no significant differences in non-target arthropod community structure. Under herbicide-free conditions, no differences in weed communities were found between LD05 and Zheng58. There was no significant difference in the occurrence of major diseases (p > 0.05). NMDS ordination revealed no obvious separation in the integrated community structure of insects, weeds, and diseases between LD05 and Zheng58 in 2023 (R2 = 0.280, p = 0.3) and 2024 (R2 = 0.119, p = 0.6). In summary, compared with Zheng58, no differences were detected for LD05 in the endpoints measured (arthropod diversity, weed communities, and disease incidence) under these conditions.