{"id":219777,"date":"2022-12-24T19:10:02","date_gmt":"2022-12-24T13:40:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.forumias.com\/?p=219777"},"modified":"2022-12-24T19:10:02","modified_gmt":"2022-12-24T13:40:02","slug":"on-gm-follow-the-science","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/on-gm-follow-the-science\/","title":{"rendered":"On GM, follow the science"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Source<\/span><\/b>: The post is based on the article <\/span>\u201cOn GM, follow the science\u201d <\/span><\/b>published in<\/span> The Indian Express <\/span><\/b>on <\/span>24th December 2022<\/span><\/b>.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Syllabus: <\/span><\/b>GS3- Awareness in the field of biotechnology<\/span><\/p>\n

Relevance<\/span><\/b>: Use of recombinant technology.<\/span><\/p>\n

News<\/span><\/b>: The article explains the issues related to the environmental release of the GM mustard variety called DMH-11.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

GM is a disruptive technology because it can bring about targeted changes in crop varieties that cannot be achieved through normal breeding of plant lines.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

What is the need for hybrid technology?<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/h5>\n

Hybrid plants that result from the crossing of <\/span>genetically diverse parents <\/span><\/b>generally demonstrate <\/span>higher yields and wider adaptation<\/span><\/b>.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Hybrids typically show <\/span>20-25% yield increases<\/span><\/b> over conventional varieties. It can play an important role in boosting the yields of rapeseed mustard. India’s current mustard yield is 1.2-1.3 tonnes per hectare. It is roughly half of the global average. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In 2021-22, India spent Rs 1,56,800 crore on the import of 14.1 mt of edible oils. Hybrid technology can lead to<\/span> the reduction of import dependence<\/span><\/b> on edible oil.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

What is the role of GM hybrids?<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/h5>\n

Hybrid seed production requires an <\/span>efficient male sterility and fertility-restoration system<\/span><\/b>. The purpose is to ensure that one of the <\/span>parent lines<\/span><\/b> can be crossed with the pollen from only the other parent, even as the resultant plant is fertile.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The existing mustard hybrids have limitations of <\/span>sterility breakdown<\/span><\/b> under certain environmental conditions. It results in <\/span>lower seed purity<\/span><\/b>.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The <\/span>GM \u201cBarnase-Barstar\u201d system<\/span><\/b> provides an alternative route for hybridisation in mustard that is robust and addresses the <\/span>sterility breakdown<\/span><\/b> problems. This technology has been successfully deployed in other countries.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

DMH-11 uses the <\/span>\u201cbarnase-barstar\u201d system<\/span><\/b> with some improvements to breed the hybrid.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

What are the arguments against the allegations of safety on GM mustard? <\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/h5>\n

DMH-11 has undergone all the required r<\/strong><\/span>egulatory testing processes<\/span><\/b>. It was tested in confined field trials at multiple locations. It showed around 28%\u00a0 higher yield over the national best mustard variety <\/span>Varuna<\/span><\/b>.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It has been subjected to all the biosafety tests required under the officially stipulated guidelines and rules.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The doubters have questioned the safety of the three genes called <\/span>Barnase, Barstar and Ba<\/span><\/b>r<\/strong> that are used to develop GM mustard. Extensive studies on GM mustard lines have established their safety.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The final allegation levelled against DMH-11 is that it will promote <\/span>use of herbicides<\/span><\/b>. The Bar gene does confer resistance to the <\/span>herbicide glufosinate<\/span><\/b>. But the gene has been used as a selectable marker in tissue culture during the breeding process.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The <\/span>herbicide-tolerance trait<\/span><\/b> in both the <\/span>Barnase female and Barstar male lines<\/span><\/b> is to be exploited only for the production of hybrid seed and not in the <\/span>commercial cultivation<\/span><\/b> of hybrids. The GEAC has also approved herbicide use only for hybrid seed production.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

GM crops are today grown in over 30 countries. <\/span>Adoption rates<\/span><\/b> of GM traits have been more than 95% in some cases with no evidence of adverse effects.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Source: The post is based on the article \u201cOn GM, follow the science\u201d published in The Indian Express on 24th December 2022.\u00a0 Syllabus: GS3- Awareness in the field of biotechnology Relevance: Use of recombinant technology. News: The article explains the issues related to the environmental release of the GM mustard variety called DMH-11.\u00a0 GM is… Continue reading On GM, follow the science<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10311,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1230,9],"tags":[216,10500],"class_list":["post-219777","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-9-pm-daily-articles","category-public","tag-gs-paper-3","tag-indian-express","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","views":{"total":0,"cached_at":"","cached_date":1704841054},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/219777","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10311"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=219777"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/219777\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=219777"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=219777"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=219777"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}