Questioning the Benefits of ICAR's 2-Genome Edited Rice Varieties

31-Oct-2025 05:34 PM

New Delhi. The Coalition for a GM-Free India has questioned the claims of the benefits of 2-genome Edited rice varieties developed by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), alleging that the results of trials of the varieties Pusa DST-1 and DRR Dhan 100 (Kamala) are not as good as claimed. False claims of success are being made and a mountain is being made out of a molehill.

Citing the 2023 and 2024 general reports of the ICAR's All India Coordinated Research Project on Rice (Paddy), the coalition states that the Council's conclusions do not match its own data and appear contradictory.

The coalition also accuses ICAR and the Ministry of Agriculture of "scientific fraud" in the promotion of genome-edited rice varieties.

It is worth noting that the announcement of the 2-genome Edited rice varieties was made by the Union Agriculture Minister on May 4th.

At the time, it was said that this was the first achievement of its kind in the entire world. Previously, new varieties had been developed from a single genome.

A statement from the alliance said that the biotechnology lobby in India has become accustomed to promoting certain genome-edited varieties as a miracle for the country. This has been seen before in the case of Bt brinjal and GM mustard. The reality is different.

It was claimed that Pusa DST-1 rice had better yield performance in saline and alkaline soils than its non-GM parent, MTU 1010, while DRR Rice 100 (Kamala) was claimed to have a 17 percent higher average yield and a 20-day shorter maturity period. It also had higher nitrogen efficiency, but later data contradicted this claim.