India unveils genome-edited rice varieties aimed at boosting yield

India’s agriculture ministry has introduced two new genome-edited rice varieties, which government officials claim are the first of their kind globally. The rice lines—Kamala and Pusa DST Rice 1—were developed by the Indian Institute of Rice Research (IIRR), Hyderabad, and the Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), Delhi, respectively.

According to Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, the genome-edited varieties have the potential to increase grain yields by 25% to 30% and could be commercially available within the next four to five years.

Unlike genetically modified organisms (GMOs), these rice lines do not involve the insertion of foreign DNA. As a result, they are exempt from the regulatory oversight of the Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC), which governs the approval of GM crops in India.

“These are the world’s first genome-edited rice [varieties] and would help us meet the target of reducing area under paddy by five million hectares,” Chouhan said at the launch event. He added that the varieties could play a central role in facilitating a “second green revolution” in India.

The two varieties are expected to gradually replace currently dominant rice lines such as Samba Mahsuri and Cottondora Sannalu, which are cultivated across approximately nine million hectares. India grows rice on nearly 46 million hectares during the kharif and rabi seasons and produced 137 million tonnes in the 2023–24 crop year. The country has remained the world’s largest rice exporter since 2012, with shipments valued at over $12 billion in the 2024–25 fiscal year.

Kamala and Pusa DST Rice 1 are recommended for cultivation across key rice-producing states, including Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Puducherry, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Jharkhand and West Bengal.

According to the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), the new rice lines have undergone field trials over two consecutive kharif seasons (2023 and 2024) under the All India Coordinated Research Project on Rice. Officials reported improved performance under both biotic and abiotic stress conditions.

The cultivation of the new rice varieties across five million hectares could result in 4.5 million tonnes of additional paddy output and a 20% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions—equivalent to 32,000 tonnes—without compromising grain quality, an ICAR official said.

Genome editing allows scientists to make precise modifications to native genes without introducing foreign DNA. In 2022, the Indian environment ministry exempted genome-editing techniques such as Site Directed Nuclease (SDN) 1 and 2 from key sections of the Environment Protection Act, thus easing their regulatory pathway.

Currently, around 30 countries treat genome-edited crops as non-GMO. The United States and China have taken the lead in developing genome-edited crops such as rice, maize, soybean, canola and tomato to tackle climate-induced stresses.