Science and Technology › Biotechnology
हिन्दी — Read in HindiAgricultural and food biotechnology
Genome edited crops, 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.
Foundation note: GM crops in India: what is approved, who approves
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
Genome editing makes edits classed as SDN-1, SDN-2 or SDN-3, and India exempts SDN-1 and SDN-2 edits, which leave no foreign DNA, from the rules for genetically modified organisms.
- The exemption came through a 2022 office memorandum, so these edits bypass the Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee.
- SDN-3 inserts a gene and remains regulated.
What changed
10 Jul 2026New
- The European Parliament approved a two tier law on 17 June 2026, with a light regime for simple edits.
- 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)
Herbicide tolerant mustard hybrids
Copy link to Herbicide tolerant mustard hybridsPrelims and Mains
Herbicide tolerant mustard hybrids carry a single DNA change, made by mutation breeding and not genetic modification, that lets them survive imidazolinone herbicides.
- Imidazolinone herbicides kill plants by inhibiting acetolactate synthase, an enzyme essential for growth; the hybrids' change makes the enzyme resistant.
- The parasitic weed Orobanche attaches to mustard roots and drains water and nutrients, beyond the reach of hand weeding.
- The tolerant crop can be sprayed, so the herbicide reaches the parasite in the soil.
- India imported about 16 million tonnes of edible oil in 2024 to 2025, and mustard is its main oilseed in the arid north.
Why the hybrid survives the spray
Spray
The imidazolinone herbicide inhibits acetolactate synthase, an enzyme essential for growth
Weed and parasite die
Weeds and Orobanche in the soil lose the enzyme's work and die
Hybrid unaffected
The hybrid's single DNA change makes its enzyme resistant
Crop survives
The mustard grows on in a field cleared of the parasite
What changed
8 Jun 2026New
- Wide scale cultivation of imidazolinone resistant mustard hybrids begins in the 2026 to 2027 rabi season to counter Orobanche.
- Relying on one herbicide will select for resistant weeds.
Mains: The technology stays viable only inside diverse weed control: crop rotation, herbicides with different modes of action and continued manual weeding.
See also: Radiation in agriculture: mutation breeding and food irradiation
Also filed elsewhere
- Radiation in agriculture: mutation breeding and food irradiation · 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.