Marker-Assisted Selection (MAS) in Rice Biotechnology Research in India

Abstract

Abstract The present study examines the potential of Marker-Assisted Selection (MAS) technology in the field of rice biotechnology research in India and how it is perceived and practiced by rice biotechnologists in selected scientific institutions under the aegis of Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) and State Agricultural Universities (SAUs). The primary data for the study has been collected through in-depth personal interviews with molecular biologists and plant breeders engaged in rice biotechnology research in various institutional settings. A majority of the scientists emphasize the relative merits of MAS vis-à-vis the currently contentious transgenic approach for rice improvement in India. The MAS has emerged as an integrative, non-evasive, non-controversial, non-proprietary, and benign technology with the wider social acceptance that promotes open-mode, inclusive, and user-centered innovations in rice biotechnology research.