Genome editing for crop improvement can accelerate the delivery of better varieties, Director of ICAR-Indian Institute of Rice Research R.M. Sundaram said.
Speaking at a workshop on “Genome Editing for Crop Improvement: Potential and Policy” organised jointly by Professor Jayashankar Telangana State Agricultural University (PJTSAU) and Biotech Consortium India Limited (BCIL) on Friday, he stated that genome editing technology was relatively inexpensive for implementation and has widespread accessibility in both private and public sector research institutions.
The technology could be used in almost all crop plants for which partial or complete genome sequence was available and was being applied to more than 40 crops across 25 countries, mostly addressing various agronomic important traits like yield improvement, nutritional enhancement, feed quality, biotic and abiotic stress tolerance in the realm of depleting natural resources and a fast changing climate.
