Transgenic Rice: Methods and Achievements

Rice is a staple food for half of the world¿s population. It was planted on about 154 million hectares (about 11 % of the world¿s cultivated land) which is equivalent to one third of world¿s total area planted to cereals with an annual production of 700 million tons. With 44.62 million hectares under rice cultivation, India ranks first in area and second in production (132 million tons) and contributes about 26 % of global rice production. Demand for rice continues to increase due to increase in population and improvement in living standards. However, rate of increase of rice production has slowed down. To balance production and consumption, enhancing the production and productivity of rice as well as by reducing the amount of loss due to pest and diseases. Insect pest control by chemical pesticides has brought about considerable protection but these chemical pesticides are expensive and non-specific for target pest. In the present study, an attempt was made to evolve transgenic indica rice cultivar ASD16 expressing cry2AX1 gene along with chloroplast transit peptide to provide protection against lepidopteran pests.