New Delhi, Dec. 27 -- India is close to approving a genetically edited variety of mustard, which offers better nutrition and disease resistance, two officials have said, as the government has signaled a shift towards deploying so-called CRISPR technologies over genetically modified (GM) crops for solutions such as higher productivity and climate resilience. In May, agriculture minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan announced the commercial release of its first high-yield and climate-resilient rice varieties developed by scientists of the state-run Indian Council of Agricultural Research, or ICAR, using CRISPR-Cas9, a technology that allows precise changes in genes. Unlike genetically modified organisms (GMOs), crops tweaked with the CRISPR-Cas9 system don't contain foreign DNA. Since GM crops have been a controversial topic in one of the world's largest producers of farm commodities, the Indian government has given quicker regulatory clearances for crops altered through gene editing to boost resilience and productivity. The country is preparing to release a slew of gene-edited varieties and state-backed institutions under the ICAR are currently "researching over 40 crops, including 24 field and 17 horticulture" plants, one of the officials said. These include pulses, tomatoes, tobacco and bananas. The Institute of Plant Genome Research has developed transgene-free Indian mustard (brassica juncea) lines using CRISPR/Cas9-mediated technologies, known as Varuna, to lower its glucosinolate content in specific areas of the plant to offer it greater resilience. "Glucosinolate offers rapeseed mustard its pungency, so it is very useful to plant and for taste. Therefore, our scientists have been careful to reduce its content in seed and oil without reducing it in the whole plant," the first official said. The gene-edited mustard variety is undergoing final inspections under the oversight of the All India Coordinated Research Project, a nationwide network of research centres under the ICAR. The two gene-edited rice varieties - Pusa rice DST1 and DRR Dhan 100 - released in May and developed by researchers at the Indian Agricultural Research Institute and the Indian Institute of Rice Research were described by ICAR director general Mangi Lal Jat as a "historic milestone". He had said many other gene-edited crop varieties will be up for release in the coming years. The IARI-developed Pusa Rice DST1, in which scientists lopped off a gene responsible for weaker stress resistance, offers improved drought tolerance. The DRR Dhan 100, on the other hand, relates to the widely cultivated Samba Mahsuri variety. Using CRISPR, researchers edited a cytokinin oxidase gene (OsCKX2), boosting yields by 19%....