Genome-edited rice
Topic: Major Crops of India: Distribution and Conditions · NCERT: Beyond NCERT
Meaning
Genome-edited rice is rice whose own genes have been changed slightly, like correcting a few letters in a word. No foreign DNA from any other organism is added. In May 2025, ICAR released two such varieties: DRR Dhan 100 (Kamala) and Pusa DST Rice 1. Edits that add no foreign DNA (the SDN-1 and SDN-2 types) are exempt from India's strict GM rules. Because of this, such crops can reach farmers faster.
Example
DRR Dhan 100 (Kamala) was developed at ICAR's rice research institute in Hyderabad, Telangana.
Don't confuse with
- Transgenic GM crops: crops such as Bt cotton carry a gene taken from another organism, in this case the soil bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis. Genome-edited rice only has small changes to its own genes.