Genetically Modified Crops: Present and Future Perspective

India occupies a prominent position in the World as 1st prime producer of fruits and vegetables, its production of fruits and vegetables during 2018-19 which is around 314.5 million tons (mt) 1. Further, India ranks first in the production of some important tropical fruits in innumerable varieties. We incur an enormous loss in our total production, which is estimated to be nearly 30-40%, causing drastic loss to fruit and vegetable industries. Genetically modified (GM crops can help us to meet the demand of high yielding, nutritionally -balanced, biotic and abiotic stress tolerant crop varieties 2. Agricultural biotechnology is a great boon for humanity for addressing novel approaches for high yield, at low cost to provide sustainable food, environmentally friendly with enhanced nutritional value. This technology is being used to develop new varieties and traits using genetics and genomics, marker-assisted selection, and transgenic (genetic engineered) crops. In recent years, development of transgenic crops with multiple beneficial traits has emerged as an important area in the field of plant biotechnology. Most of the progress through genetic engineering to date has been made in the area of improving the agronomic traits of crops. Our laboratory has been focused on improving post-harvest loss, tolerance to drought and phytopathogens, which significantly contribute to improvement in crop yield. Food and nutritional insecurity pose serious concern for human health worldwide, especially in developing countries due to continuous rise in population growth. Therefore, promoting the nutritional value of staple crops is a major consideration for global food and nutritional security. The recent achievements in plant biotechnology has opened immense possibilities and scope for obtaining crops with better quality and improved productivity and scope for nutritional and food security worldwide