Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) Selects 41 Crops for Genome Editing to Boost Climate-Resilient Farming

Key facts

• The Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) is working on genome-editing of around 40 crop varieties across 34 of its research institutes.
• The goal of the initiative is to develop climate-resilient and nutrient-rich varieties to ensure India's food security by 2047.
• Of the 41 diverse crops chosen for the intervention, 24 are field crops and 17 are horticultural crops.
• The initiative covers a wide range of essential crops including pulses, wheat, bananas, tomatoes, cotton, soybean and rice.
• ICAR released the first-ever genome-edited rice varieties, DRR Dhan 100 (Kamala) and Pusa DST Rice 1.
• The genome-edited crops are designed to boost yields by up to 25 per cent, tolerate droughts, reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 20 per cent and use significantly less irrigation water.
• Unlike genetically modified crops, genome editing (SDN-1 and SDN-2) makes targeted changes within a plant's native genome.