The varieties will take at least 4 to 5 years to reach farmers after they complete the usual cycle of breeder, foundation and certified seeds.
Kindly note the image has only been published for representational purposes. Photograph: Kind courtesy Safari consoler/Pixabay
In a significant development, India has released two new genome edited varieties of rice for the first time in the world.
These varieties promise to boost per hectare yields by up to 30 per cent and may take 15 to 20 days less to mature compared to existing varieties.
‘The rice varieties (called Kamala- DRR Dhan-100 and Pusa DST Rice 1) will consume less water and also help in reducing greenhouse gases emissions into the environment,’ said Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan.
The varieties will take at least 4 to 5 years to reach farmers after they complete the usual cycle of breeder, foundation and certified seeds.
‘We are trying to quicken this as well so that farmers can get the benefit of these high-yielding varieties at the earliest,’ Chouhan said.
A basic and fundamental difference between genetically-modified crops and gene-edited ones is that in the former, the final product (which is a crop variety like BT cotton) has foreign genes. In gene edited plants, there is no additional foreign gene.
A few years back, India exempted SDN1 and SDN2 genome edited plants from Rules 7-11 of the Environment Protect Act (EPA) for manufacture, use or import or export and storage of hazardous microorganisms or genetically-engineered organisms or cells rules-1989. This brought them outside the ambit of Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC) rules.
SDN 1, SDN 2 and SDN 3 are three methods of genome editing in crops. The new paddy variants released on Sunday use the same methods of genome editing.
Photograph: Kind courtesy Pixabay
The Centre had allocated Rs 500 crore for genome editing in agricultural crops during the 2023-2024 Union Budget. Compared to genetic modification, gene editing is a relatively new field.
‘Apart from paddy, there are almost 24 other food crops and 15 horticulture crops which are in various stages of gene editing and should be released in due course of time,’ Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) Director General Mangi Lal Jat said.
He said after the varieties were released, India will apply for their intellectual property rights (IPR) registration as well.
Initially, the new genome seeds will be sold through state-run firms.
ICAR initiated a genome editing research project in rice back in 2018 under its ‘National Agricultural Science Fund’.
First, the scientists selected two widely cultivated mega rice varieties — ‘Samba Mahsuri (BPT5204)’ and ‘MTU1010 (Cottondora Sannalu)’ which are in over nine million hectares across India.
Samba Mahsuri is known for its fine grain quality and premium market value, but it was not good in terms of climate resilience.
With moderate yields of 4–5 tonnes per hectare, a long maturation period of 145–150 days, incomplete panicle emergence and vulnerability to pests, diseases, and climate stress, the variety presented a clear challenge for improvement.
MTU1010, on the other hand, is a high-yielding early-duration variety (125–130 days) well-suited to Rabi season cultivation in southern India. But it, too, suffered from sensitivity to drought and soil salinity.
Through genome editing, ICAR scientists enhanced these varieties (Samba Mahsuri and MTU1010) with better stress tolerance, improved yield, and climate adaptability.
It was without compromising on their existing strengths, and developed two new varieties ‘Kamala’ also called DRR Dhan-100 and ‘Pusa DST Rice 1’.
The results of large-scale field trials showed DRR Dhan-100 (Kamala) had a 19 per cent yield improvement over Samba Masuria, recording an average yield of 5.37 tonnes per hectare, compared to 4.5 tonnes per hectare for its parent.
Not only that, ‘Kamala’ also retained the same grain and cooking quality that has made ‘Samba Masuri’ the consumer’s favourite.
In the same manner, PUSA DST Rice 1 had a 9-30 per cent yield advantage compared to the parent variant, depending on the soil.
Kamala is recommended for use in Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, Kerala (Zone VII), Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh (Zone V), Odisha, Jharkhand, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, and West Bengal (Zone III).
PUSA DST Rice 1 is recommended for use in Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, Kerala (Zone VII), Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh (Zone V), Odisha, Jharkhand, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, and West Bengal (Zone III).
With scientists’ help, Chouhan looks to bridge ‘lab-to-land’ divide
Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Sunday said starting from the upcoming kharif season, scientists from various ICAR institutes, along with Krishi Vigyan Kendras, will spend 15 days with the farmers twice a year to explain various new research initiatives.
Chouhan said this attempt to bridge the gap between ‘lab-to-land’ will be done twice in a year, and attempts will be made to hold at least three meetings in a day by the scientists.
“Our target is to reach all farmers across the country in the next 3-4 years,” Rajbir Singh, DDG (Agricultural Extension)-ICAR, said.
Feature Presentation: Rajesh Alva/Rediff
