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Harish Damodaran

``We have been getting a consistent three quintal per hectare advantage in both well-managed, irrigated conditions as well in unirrigated environments'', said Dr Paresh Verma, Director (Research), at Proagro Seeds.

NEW DELHI, Nov. 6

AFTER Monsanto-Mahyco's Bt cotton, the stage is now set for the commercialisation of yet another genetically modified (GM) crop — this time in hybrid mustard.

The Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC) under the Ministry of Environment and Forests, which had, on March 26, approved commercial cultivation of transgenic Bt cotton, is scheduled to meet on Thursday to consider a similar proposal for GM hybrids developed by Proagro Seed Company Ltd. The latter is a subsidiary of the German agrochemicals-cum-life sciences major, Bayer CropScience.

Proagro has sought GEAC clearance for three mustard hybrids — MT 95002, MT 95003 and MT 95005 — which, it claims, confers a 20 per cent yield advantage over the currently best performing `check' varieties, including `Varuna' and `Kranti' developed by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR).

``We have been getting a consistent three quintal per hectare advantage in both well-managed, irrigated conditions as well in unirrigated environments'', said Dr Paresh Verma, Director (Research), at Proagro Seeds.

Proagro was accorded permission by the GEAC in August 2001 to conduct large-scale trials of its mustard hybrids. ``We have planted the hybrids in 47 locations across five States — Rajasthan, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana. Simultaneously, we also supplied the seeds to the ICAR, which has carried out its parallel multi-locational trials under the aegis of the All-India Coordinated Project on Rapeseed-Mustard, headquartered at Bharatpur, Rajasthan'', he added.

The GEAC, in its meeting, would be examining the trial data submitted by both Proagro as well as the ICAR. ``Even if the GEAC gives its nod, we do not expect large-scale commercial planting to happen in the current rabi season, which is already under way'', Dr Verma admitted.

The uniqueness of Proagro's mustard hybrids is said to lie in the fact of their being hybrids in the very first place. Unlike maize, bajra, cotton, sunflower and a host of vegetables, there are no commercial hybrids for mustard (Brassica Juncea) in the country now.

This is because mustard is essentially a self-pollinating crop and there is no hybridisation system existing in nature for developing commercially viable hybrids. What Proagro has done is to `genetically engineer' such a hybridisation system for mustard.

Hybridisation essentially involves crossing two genetically dissimilar plant varieties and exploiting the `heterosis' or hybrid vigour often seen in the first-generation (F1) progeny. This, in turn, requires the presence of suitable `cytoplasmic male sterile' (CMS) or `restorer' parental lines.

The technique usually employed for hybrid seed breeding relies on identifying CMS parental lines (in which the male organs, i.e., stamen, are sterile) and crossing these with a `restorer' line (which is male-fertile), so that the former could be pollinated by only the other parental line. The resultant progeny is a commercial F1 hybrid.

``In mustard, there is no natural CMS-restorer system. As a result, the F1 hybrids exhibit floral abnormality and neither are they 100 per cent fertile'', Dr Verma explained. To address this, Proagro has employed `barnase-barstar' genetic engineering technology, a proprietary knowhow of Bayer CropScience.

Dr Verma said that Proagro has used the `barnase' gene to develop male sterile lines and the `barstar' gene for the restorer lines. ``We have essentially introduced through genetic engineering a male sterility gene (barnase) in locally grown mustard that ensures complete (male) sterility in the female parent and also a restorer gene (barstar) in the male parent that restores complete fertility in the hybrid'', he noted, while emphasising that the transgenic hybrids were developed by crossing the ICAR's own Varuna and Kranti mustard varieties.

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