Key Points
- Indian farmers are set to begin the wide-scale cultivation of imidazolinone-resistant (IMI-resistant) mustard hybrids in the 2026-27 rabi sowing season.
- emerged to overcome Orobanche.
- high-yielding mustard varieties developed via mutation breeding to withstand imidazolinone (IMI) herbicides
- allows farmers to spray the herbicide directly onto fields to eliminate weeds without damaging the crop itself.
- Nodal Ministry: Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, and Ministry of Science & Technology (Department of Biotechnology).
- Legal Status: Non-Genetically Modified (Non-GM) status
- they are developed through regular mutation breeding rather than transgenic gene insertion