The southern Petrochemical Industries Corporation’s (Spic) agro biotech centre has identified tissue culture in bananas as a major thrust area. The centre produces cultured banana saplings. The major varieties dealt with by the centre are Robusta, Williams, Dwarf Cavendish, Nendran, Poovan and Rastalli. The Spic centre is also planning to raise the production of other cultured planting material, notably Gerbera, which is expected to sell around three lakh saplings. M Chinniah, chief manager of the centre, said, "The saplings produced by the centre are disease-resistant and can yield around 25 to 30% more, compared to yield from conventional saplings. It is estimated that around 1,200 plants can be grown on one acre of land." The centre had a very rigorous testing process. M Chinniah "The mother plant is tested in our laboratory using the "Ellisa’ test. This helps us to produce disease-free saplings. Our tests have indicated that each plant can produce around 200 to 250 fruits. Close to 5 to 10% of the conventional saplings never yield fruits." While the initial cost was estimated to be around Rs. 50,000 per acre, higher fruit yield would help the grower to recover the cost. India is the world’s largest producer of bananas, accounting for 15% of the total production. |
Agri.
|