BIOTECHNOLOGY IN THE SOUTH PACIFIC ISLAND REGION

Abstract

Biotechnology in the South Pacific region is limited to the use of tissue culture for propagation and conservation purposes. Regional and national tissue culture laboratories have been established in several of the Pacific Island countries; their main priorities are the provision of planting material for growers and in vitro conservation. Root and tuber crops have been the main focus of tissue culture technology in the region, but with the increase in the number of national tissue culture laboratories, and the need to ensure that these laboratories can generate some income, attention has turned to other more high value plants such as orchids, anthruriums, strawberries, etc. Micropropagation techniques for crops such as taro have been optimised, and with crops such as Abelmoschus manihot, (bele), tissue culture methodology has been developed. In recent years significant losses have occurred in the field collections of the root and tuber crops maintained in many of the Pacific Island countries. The extended use of in vitro conservation is now being considered as a more secure strategy for safeguarding these genetic resources. Experiments are underway to evaluate the use of certain slow-growth methods, and the feasibility of using cryopreservation for some crops in the region. The region has access to the other areas of biotechnology important to agriculture such as plant transformation, marker technology, through collaboration with institutions outside of the Pacific Island countries. This paper reviews the progress made by tissue culture in the South Pacific Island region over the last decade and considers what influence biotechnology might have in the future.