Commercialisation of Tissue Culture for Forest Tree Species in India

Abstract

Tissue culture of tree species was initiated in India in the 1960’s (Konar et al., 1963). The possibility of plant production using the meristem tissue from a 100 year old teak tree was first demonstrated in 1980 at National Chemical Laboratory (NCL), Pune, (Gupta et al. 1980) and is considered a land mark. Since then NCL has carried out pioneering research in this area (Gupta et al., 1983, Mascarenhas et al., 1988, 1989, Nadgir et al. 1984). Simultaneously micropropagation of eucalyptus (Lakshmita et al. 1979, 1985) and somatic embryogenesis in sandalwood (Bapat, Rao 1979, Lakshmisita et al., 1979) was also reported. Studies were also reported on protoplast culture (Rao, Ozias Akins, 1985) and artificial seeds in sandalwood (Bapat, Rao, 1988). The status of tissue culture in India has been reviewed (Kendurkar, Mascarenhas 1987, Muralidharan, Mascarenhas 1989). Currently, many research groups are engaged on forest tree tissue culture which includes desert species (Shekhavat et al, 1998). At present, micropropagation protocols are available for more than 30 tree species and studies are underway on more than 20 tree species (courtesy: Department of biotechnology, DBT, New Delhi). Although methods were developed for micropropagation of several forest tree spp. and small scale field trials were conducted (Mascarenhas et al. 1988, Gupta et al 1991) for commercial utilization the main challenges were (1) To develop, refine and upscale the protocols to make them cost effective and (2) To evaluate growth of the plants in field. To answer both these questions extensive research work for upscaling and extension of the technology to the field level was necessary. These are described in this paper.