GM mustard fails to meet minimum weight norm for commercial release as seed

India’s first genetically modified mustard crop Dhara Mustard Hybrid (DMH-11) has failed to meet the minimum weight criteria required for the commercial release as seed. However, no discrepancy has been found in the claims regarding its yield and oil content, highly-placed sources said.

According to the results of field trials conducted at six different locations in the last Rabi season by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), DMH-11’s yield is about 26 quintals per hectare and its oil content is 40 per cent, the sources said. But it has a weight of about 3.5 grams per 1,000 seeds, which is lower than the norm of 4.5 grams to be eligible for notification as a seed variety, the sources said.

Experts said the government could make a case out of this study to continue field trials in six of the eight ICAR venues, where it had been testing India’s first GM food crop. This assumes significance in the wake of the Centre asking the Supreme Court to allow it to withdraw an “oral undertaking” it had given in November 2022.

Then, it said it would not go ahead with the GM mustard field trials except for the six ICAR venues. The Centre had expected the apex court to continue the hearings, but there was a six-month gap, forcing the government to approach the Supreme Court to withdraw its undertaking.

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On August 23, the Supreme Court rejected the plea, saying harm to “the environment cannot be reversed”. The Centre, however, has told the apex court that it wants to go ahead with GM mustard sowing in the coming season for field trials and not for commercial release.

Experts’ views are divided over the lower weight of the mustard seeds. While one section says “weight is not a relevant issue”, the other said it could lead to yield losses when mechanically harvested. Manual harvesting has progressively reduced due to labour issues.

Experts say principally, technology is important, which depends on genetics.

The findings of the ICAR field trials have been submitted to the Attorney General, who is likely to place them before the Supreme Court in the next hearing on October 10, sources said. The Apex Court is hearing the approval of GM mustard, challenged by Gene Campaign and activist Aruna Rodrigues.

In the last hearing, Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati came up with two proposals from the government. One, it said experts from across all fields can handle the field trials.  Alternatively, it urged the court to continue allowing research on GM mustard crops sown in eight of the 10 designated sites of the Indian Council for Agricultural Research (ICAR) last year. The apex court could seek a report, she argued.

The Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC), the regulatory body under the Environment Ministry for GM crops, in October 2022 approved “environmental release” of the DMH-11 seed for trials, demonstrations, and seed productions under the supervision of the ICAR. The DMH-11 has been developed by the Centre for Genetic Manipulation of Crop Plants at Delhi University and was first approved by GEAC in 2017, which later retracted the decision.

• Also read: US cites GM mustard to argue against India’s non-GMO certification requirement for food

The Bharatpur-based Directorate of Rapeseed-Mustard Research (DRMR) received the seeds on October 28 from ICAR, and seeds were already planted in six locations by the time it knew that the case was listed in the top court on November 3. It could not be sown in another two locations as planned.

The government had said that DMH-11 has been tested for three years — 2010–11, 2011–12, and 2014–15 — against national ‘check’ Varuna and zonal ‘check’ RL1359 during confined field trials at multiple locations. The DMH 11 showed about 28 per cent higher yield than the national check and 37 per cent more than the zonal checks. ‘Checks’ refer to reference varieties, and usually, new varieties must prove themselves superior to those checks to be considered for commercial release.

Currently, ‘Giriraj’, ‘Pioneer 45S46’, RH-725, and RH-749 are some leading mustard hybrids currently grown in the country, with yield levels of 22-26 quintals per hectare. In some places, the yield was about 28 quintal/hectares.

The government told Parliament in December that field trials and extensive studies carried out on toxicity (both acute and sub- chronic), allergenicity and compositional analysis have provided evidence that DMH-11 is “safe for cultivation and for food and feed use”.

The August 10, 2022, minutes of GEAC’s 150th meeting said post-release study of GM mustard found conditions good, in general, and a robust crop. The seed set was good across the six locations, an indication that there was good activity of honey bees and pollinators on all the entries including GE mustard hybrid, it said.

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