29 May2023, Punjab: A Tissue Culture Plant Production Facility has been developed at the School of Agricultural Biotechnology, Punjab Agricultural University (PAU), for the production of disease free quality planting material of potato and high value ornamental plants. The facility was inaugurated by Dr Satbir Singh Gosal, Vice-Chancellor, PAU, on May 25, 2023.
Dr Gosal in his address reminisced how plant tissue culture was started in PAU in 1976 from a small laboratory. Now PAU has plant tissue culture laboratories specifically for research and commercial production. He elaborated the benefits of tissue culture for large scale multiplication of disease free planting material of clonally propagated crops such as potato, sugarcane, mentha, strawberry, gerbera, etc. and its importance in latest technologies such as genome editing. Dr Gosal encouraged the students to work hard and do their jobs sincerely and keep themselves abreast of latest technologies as well as with the historic perspective of their subject. He congratulated the School of Agricultural Biotechnology team of scientists and encouraged them to make such facilities available to students and researchers from other departments of the university.
Dr Ajmer Singh Dhatt, Director of Research, emphasized on the necessity and scope of plant tissue culture for generating disease free planting material. “PAU has established potato seed multiplication chain using tissue culture, so that the disease free seed of recently recommended potato varieties could reach the farmers’ fields. New Tissue Culture Plant Production Facility will help to meet the immense demand of mini tubers of elite potato varieties by farmers and industries,” he added. Potato Tissue culture in combination with aeroponics holds immense opportunities for popularization of new varieties in the shortest possible time. Tissue culture has vast application in generation of elite planting material in high-value ornamental crops too, he added.
Dr Parveen Chhuneja, Director, School of Agricultural Biotechnology and Dr Gurupkar S Sidhu, Incharge of this facility, conducted a visit of the new facility and highlighted that the laboratory complex has specific areas earmarked for general procedures and those to be conducted under sterile conditions as is required for plant tissue culture.
