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Rice - India
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DROUGHT AND SALINITY TOLERANT (DST) RICE |
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| Introduction: |
Rice is an essential crop for food security, poverty alleviation and improved livelihoods in Asia. Over 2 billion people obtain 60-70% of their food energy from rice. About four fifths of the world’s rice is grown by small-scale farmers in low income countries. Rice production employs 1 billion people and is essential to the economic development of rural areas in India, Bangladesh and Southeast Asia.
Drought and high salt concentrations in soil are major constraints to agricultural production in Bangladesh and India. As the population in Asia increases, farmers are under pressure to produce more rice on less available arable land.
The application of biotechnology to introduce stress-tolerant genes into crop plants may be effective in addressing the problems associated with drought and high salinity. Prof. Ray Wu’s laboratory at Cornell University has demonstrated that stress tolerance in plants can be induced by manipulating the genes that are responsible for the accumulation of the sugar “trehalose.”
ABSPII has been instrumental in negotiating the transfer of the trehalose genes to researchers in India and Bangladesh. The genes are currently being introduced into locally adapted rice varieties. If this strategy proves effective, ABSPII will support commercialization so that seed will be available to resource-poor farmers. |
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| Project Manager: |
K Vijayraghavan, Regional Coordinator, South Asia |
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| Participating Countries : |
Bangladesh, India |
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| Term: |
2004-2008 |
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| Partners: |
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| Technology: |
The technology, developed by Prof. Ray Wu at Cornell University, involves manipulating the genes required for synthesis of the naturally occurring sugar trehalose. This system is designed such that the bioengineered genes are specifically “turned on” when the plant is under drought or salt stress. |
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| Project Status: |
Five generations of transgenic rice plants have been tested under greenhouse conditions at Cornell University.
Field trials will be conducted to assess the effectiveness of this system under conventional agricultural conditions.
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| Expected Benefits : |
- Introducing advanced technology developed in the public domain will supplement the efforts of national governments to meet the challenges of food and nutritional security.
- Increased income for marginal farmers through improved crop production.
- A single technology will be applicable to address two individual constraints: drought and salinity.
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| Economic Importance: |
Rice is grown on about 44 million hectares in India. Over 9 million hectares are severely impacted by drought and salinity. In 2001-2002, 10% of India’s land area experienced severe drought and 19% experienced moderate drought. Water available for agriculture has fallen by nearly 10% during the last decade because of increasing demand from industrial and domestic sectors. The Department of Biotechnology in India considers this situation a high priority and has agreed to provide matching support for ABSPII’s stress tolerance project. |
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| Partners Within the Country: |
Bangladesh Rice Research Institute (BRRI), Bangladesh
College of Agriculture Life Sciences (CALS), Cornell University
Cornell Research Foundation (CRF)
Department of Biotechnology, (DBT), India
Directorate of Rice Research (DRR), India
Central Soil Sciences Research Institute (CSSRI), India
International Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (ICGEB), India
Sathguru Management Consultants Pvt. Ltd. |
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| Planned Activities and Milestones: |
- Transform the drought and salt resistant genes into rice varieties.
- Test for drought or salt tolerance by growth rate measurement. Several additional tests related to stress tolerance will be carried out.
- Initiate communication and outreach efforts.
- Determine efficacy of the transgenic plants under greenhouse conditions and controlled field trials, conduct extended field trials to ensure biological and food safety.
- Marketing and distribution: Once the local varieties are confirmed as drought and salt tolerant, seeds will be propagated through the public seed distribution system to make them available to small-scale farmers.
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