Mahyco expects marketing of Bt rice with high salt tolerance from 2018

Hybrid seeds producer Mahyco today said its latest genetically modified Bt rice effective in mitigating the impact of high salinity might see commercialisation from 2018-19.

Having taken up field trials in the Nizamabad district of Telangana, the company started the event selection trial in a coastal area in Maharashtra two days ago. Mahyco claims there was a 15-20 rise in yields when it was grown in highly saline soils.

“It is an event selection trial. After this, we have three more seasons of trials for two years for bio-safety research level I and II. Based on these observations, if the states give the necessary permissions, we will start its commercial production from 2018-19,” said Ritesh Mishra, lead for regulatory affairs at Maharashtra-based Mahyco. He said due to high levels of ground water utilisation and drought conditions, crop fields are witnessing accumulation of salt of up to one feet and above.
 

The company will work on multiple transgenic lines of rice under the aforesaid trials and expects to pick the best out of them.

Seed researchers usually take up research in greenhouse conditions to start with, and take them forward for field-level studies after seeking regulatory permission from the Centre and the state governments.

The company is also working on Bt chickpea that can minimise the crop damages due to the commonly seen insect attack to 2-3 per cent.

According to Bharat R Char, lead for biotechnology at Mahyco, the Bt gene in chickpea controls the insect damaging the crop, and it is the same insect that damages the cotton crop. However, the gene used in Bt chickpea is slightly different from the one used in Bt cotton.

On permissions for this, Char said, “We have permissions for bio-safety research level I trials for the next two rabi seasons. While we had applied for seven states, we got to know that Andhra Pradesh has given the permission to do field trials in Kurnool and Kadapa.” It is also expecting grant of permission soon from the Maharashtra government.

It must be noted that though India is the largest producer of chickpea in the world. it had been depending on imports to the extent of 3-4 million tonnes to the meet the total annual demand of 22 million tonnes. India is procuring the protein-rich agri commodity from Canada and Tanzania.