Science and Technology › Biotechnology
Agricultural and food biotechnology
Biotechnology on the farm and in the fish pond: genetically modified and genome edited crops and their regulation, crop and animal genomes, breeding technologies, fish farming systems and food grown from cells. Prelims has asked how genome sequencing can be used in Indian agriculture and about biofilters in recirculating aquaculture.
All 4 subjects shown; the 4 that changed from 1 July to 15 September 2026 are marked.Show only these
Pigeonpea telomere-to-telomere genome
Copy link to Pigeonpea telomere-to-telomere genomePrelims
Pigeonpea is the pulse sold as arhar or tur. A draft genome stops at the repetitive stretches that sequencing cannot assemble, which is where the centromeres and the telomeres sit. Closing those stretches is the whole difference between this assembly and the draft that came before it. A genome read from one chromosome end to the other is what lets a trait be placed on a chromosome, and a breeder then go after it.
- The Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) released India's first telomere-to-telomere (T2T) genome, of the pigeonpea variety 'Asha', and deposited it at the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI).
- The gapless sequence is now the global reference genome for the crop.
- The same institute produced the world's first draft genome of a pulse crop, also pigeonpea, in 2011.
- Molecular breeding and genome editing both need the precision a gapless assembly gives, and in pulses they serve the Mission for Aatmanirbharta in Pulses, the national effort to make India self-reliant in pulses.
752.65 millionbase pairs in the genome
11chromosomes, with their centromeres
22telomeres, the chromosome ends
36,557genes annotated
What changed
UPSC has asked
- Prelims 2017: how genome sequencing can be used in Indian agriculture
Genome edited crops: India's rule and the European law
Copy link to Genome edited crops: India's rule and the European lawPrelims and Mains
India exempts SDN-1 and SDN-2 edits, which leave no foreign DNA, from the rules for genetically modified organisms through a 2022 office memorandum, so they bypass the Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee. SDN-3 inserts a gene and remains regulated.
What changed
10 Jul 2026New subject
- The European Parliament approved a two tier law on 17 June 2026. Simple edits get a light regime, but herbicide tolerant plants are kept under full assessment whatever technique made them, a check India's rule lacks.
- Unapproved herbicide tolerant Bt cotton is estimated to cover a quarter to nearly a third of India's cotton area.
Mains: Bt traits protect yield from pests and do not raise it, so new approvals alone would not restore cotton productivity.
Frontline, 10 Jul 2026: The European Parliament has voted to ease its rules on gene edited crops but has deliberately kept herbicide tolerant plants under the full genetically modified organism regime, a check that India's own framework does not have. (opens in a new tab) · The Indian Express, 2 Jul 2026: The argument that new genetically modified cotton events would restore yields is being contested (opens in a new tab)
Aquaculture
Recirculatory aquaculture and biofloc
Copy link to Recirculatory aquaculture and bioflocPrelims
Fish waste turns to ammonia, and ammonia is what limits how many fish a tank can hold. Take it out of the water and the same water will carry a far heavier stock.
- The biofilter of a Recirculatory Aquaculture System (RAS) converts the ammonia in fish waste first into nitrite and then into nitrate.
- That is what lets the system reuse 90 to 95 per cent of its water and stock its tanks intensively all year.
What changed
7 Sep 2026
7 Sep 2026
- Biofloc technology, or heterotrophic pond farming, grows beneficial microbes in the pond water, which clump together and clean it.
- Those clumps are eaten by the fish, so the pond grows part of its own feed.
- Because the water is cleaned where it stands, little or none of it is exchanged.
UPSC has asked
- Prelims 2023: biofilters in Recirculating Aquaculture Systems
Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana
Copy link to Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada YojanaPrelims
Both systems are built with money from the same scheme. Six years of it are the backdrop to a harvest that has more than doubled since 2013-14.
- The Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana (PMMSY), launched in 2020 on the base of the earlier Blue Revolution scheme, supports both recirculating and biofloc units.
- Fish production reached a record 197.75 lakh tonnes in 2024-25.
- India is second in world fish production, at about 8 per cent of global output, and first in shrimp production and exports.
What changed
10 Sep 2026
7 Sep 2026
Also filed elsewhere
- Mutation breeding · on Fusion, radiation applications and nuclear governance
Mutation breeding exposes seeds to radiation to create changes within the crop's own genome, and the breeder then selects the plants worth keeping.