Technology Transfer and Innovation Management.

• S.B.Rajbhandary

Cost reduction of Tissue culture plants

• Tissue culture plants of floricultural, horticultural and tree species are commercially produced in tens of millions in tissue culture factories over the last three decades.

• The application of the technology lags far behind its potential because of high production cost of tissue culture plants.

• One major factor that entails the high production cost of tissue culture plant is in vitro rooting. In vitro rooting is reported to account 30 to 70 % of the total production cost.

• A simple and efficient rooting of micro shoots in the non-sterile sand has been developed in Nepal such that the production cost of tissue culture plant is reduced significantly.

In vitro rooting costs 30-70 % of production cost

Professor Murashige

May 8, 1989

Referred as father of commercial tissue culture.

Technology Transfer

• Prof. Murashige started classes on tissue culture to nurserymen, horticulture teachers and amateur plant enthusiasts in 1969.

• The classes served as a basis for establishment of commercial laboratories.

• One trainee converted the garage into tissue culture laboratory.

Professor Murashige

Prof.Murashige had recommended

ex vitro rooting for cost reduction in 1974

We told him we worked on the problem

and developed sand rooting

He was inquisitive and asked me if we

put any chemical in the sand

Banana tissue culture

• Tissue culture of banana in Nepal began in 1989.

• In one year some 4000 tc plants of william hybrid were produced and given to farmers.

• Technology passed on to tissue culture factories.

• Over one million tc plants sold to farmers.

Banana

8-12 weeks cultures

Sand rooting

Sand rooted in 6 weeks

Just before packing

Packed plantsWorld price US $ 1-2 each

Nepal price five plants for US $ 1

Some one million banana tc plants have been sold to farmers in Nepal in ten years.

William hybrid

Introduced from Israel in 1982

Fingers per plant 150

Gestation period 12-14 months

Plant height 9-12 ft

Size of finger 10 inch

Weight of finger 200 g

yield of banana tc plant and conventional sucker ton/ha

tc sucker yr

Nepal 30 15 1997

Kenya 45 20 2005

Potato tissue culture

• Appropriate Technology International, USA, an international NGO, trained the farmers in sand rooting technique of producing potato tissue culture plants in 1992-93.

• Hundreds of farmers of Nala and Panauti produced tc potato plants by rooting microshoots in sand in their polyhouse.

•

Sieved sand

Sand-rooting of microshoots by trainees

Sand rooted cutting Tubers from tissue culture plant

Cost of tissue culture plant

The cost to the farmer for the microshoots was less than US $ 0.02 each

The cost of potato potato tc plant was quoted US $ 0.50 each in Oregon USA in 2003.

Polyhouse at farmer’s field

Light, temperature and humidity are critical for rooting of microshoots

1993, December 5

Tc potato plants produced by farmers

Field planted tissue culture plants

MS42.3 and Kufrijyoti

Potato farmers at Nala

Production of tc potato plant

• Nepal with the present potato cultivated in over one hundred and fifty thousand hectares produces 11 ton per hectare that is well below the world average of 16 ton per hectare. This low yield is generally attributed to the poor seed tuber quality. Thus, Nepal needs some 6 million tissue culture plants annually to produce 6 billion tubers of third generation to cover the potato plantation. This is achievable using sand rooting technique.

One test tube plant, Nara var from Japan in 1991

Tissue culture factories sold thousands of tc plants to farmers in late 1990s

strawberry

Tens of hectares covered with strawberry in Kakani producing fruits in tons

Initiation of strawberry tissue culture coincides with extension of field cultivation

Strawberry vendors at New Road, March 27, 06

,

Packed plants survived air transport to Japan, USA IndiaOne kg of packed box contains 500 tc plants

carnation

Eucalyptus camaldulensis

Tc sapling 12 week old Planted in 1987

Six years old in 1993, 80 cm

In Sagarnath thousands of hectares are planted but average yield is 12ton/ha whereas the yield increase could be over 50ton/ha based on the observation of the growth of this tree in 17 years, 2.4cm diameter increase per year

• Thank you