An international research project featuring Indian and Australian biotechnology scientists is underway to develop a variety of salt tolerant rice seed which is expected to address issues like global warming, sea level increase and nutrition deficiency.
MS Swaminathan Research Foundation and University of Tasmania (UTAS) in Australia inked a deal on Thursday for a joint venture research to develop a salt tolerant seed which according to scientists could play a significant role in food and nutrition security.
The rice variety, capable of standing up to salt water incursions and sea water rise due to climate change, was developed by the agronomists and biotechnologists in MSSRF led by Prof Ajay Parida in 2010. But due to opposition from activists and environmentalists, the field trials of this genetically-modified seeds could not be taken up in India and hence the development work was in state of limbo.
“Though initial experiments were successful, we could not take up the project further because of opposition from a section of people,” Prof Parida told The Pioneer. This salt and drought resistant variety assumes importance in the backdrop of water shortage ruining paddy crops and salt water incursion into paddy fields because of climate change, said the professor.
He said the seed was developed from wild variety of rice which had many desirable and undesirable traits. “The undesirable traits such as grain shattering, poor plant type, poor grain characteristics, and low yield were removed from the seed. To achieve precise transfer of genes from wild species, strategies involving a combination of conventional plant breeding methods along with other approaches such as tissue culture and molecular approaches have become important. That’s why we are collaborating with UTAS,” said Prof Parida.
The three-year project is being done in the UTAS agricultural fields and has been titled “Developing salt tolerance rice for food security in Australia and India”. The research work is supported by Australia-India Strategic Research Fund.
“We need to produce as much food in the next 50 years as we did in the entire 10,000 year history of agriculture. This is the reason why we need this kind of project,” said Holger Meinke, director, School of land and Food, UTAS, Hobart, who was the signatory on behalf of UTAS.