Image used for representation purposes. |Picture source: Special arrangement
The Indian Agricultural Research Council (ICAR) has successfully developed two genome-edited rice varieties that will be officially announced in New Delhi on Sunday (4 May 2025), Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan. ICAR said the development of this seed is an achievement “first” in the country using state-of-the-art genome editing technology.
The first breed, named DRR DHAN 100 KAMALA, was developed by the popular high-yield green rice Samba Mahsuri, and the second breed comes from Maharashtra Technical University 1010 (MTU1010), which is also widely used by farmers across the country.
New varieties developed from Samba Mahsuri can be harvested 15-20 days in advance. The yield increased almost 25%, about eight tons per hectare. Compared to the original crop, each cone of rice will have 450 to 500 more grains.
“This is climate-friendly because the variety uses water and minerals wisely. This also tolerates temperatures,” an ICAR source said. The variety can also be cultivated by direct seeding.
The variety developed by MTU1010 is called Pusa Dst Rice 1 and is a “salin tension-tolerant” crop. When planted in areas with national salt averages, the new variety produces an additional rate of return of 9.66% over MTU1010. Similarly, under alkaline conditions, the yield of the new varieties was 14.66% higher than that of their original and “salin tension” conditions, and the yield of the new varieties was 30.36%.
publishing – May 4, 2025 at 03:53 AM IST
