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India

Project: FRUIT AND SHOOT BORER RESISTANT (FSBR) EGGPLANT
   
Project Manager: K Vijayraghavan, Regional Coordinator, South Asia
   
Participating Countries: Bangladesh, India, Philippines
   
Term: 2004-2008
   
Partners:
   
Technology: Cry 1Ac, a gene from the naturally occurring bacteria, Bacillus thuringiensis, produces a protein that protects plants from some caterpillars, including the eggplant fruit and shoot borer.
   
Project Status:
  • Partnerships between private seed companies and leading research institutions in participating countries allowed promising resources to be efficiently applied to the production of FSBR Eggplant.
  • A gene (Cry1Ac) that renders eggplant resistant to the fruit and shoot borer, was transformed into Mahyco's most popular and regionally relevant eggplant varieties.
  • Data from field trials show that the bioengineered Cry1Ac technology effectively protects eggplant from fruit and shoot borer infestation.
  • In India, experiments are being conducted to confirm that the transformed eggplant is safe to eat and is environmentally sound.
  • In 2004 and 2005, our partners in India, Bangladesh and the Philippines started introducing this technology to their locally adapted varieties. The resulting varieties are undergoing biosafety and biodiversity review so they may be commercialized and made available to farmers.
  • Outreach material and other educational resources have been developed to help farmers and consumers understand the new FSBR eggplant technology.
   
Expected Benefits :
  • Resource-limited farmers stand to benefit economically from: - High quality eggplant seeds available from public-sector sources at affordable prices. - Reduced production losses from the eggplant fruit and shoot borer. - Increase in clean, marketable fruit. - Reduced production costs due to less frequent use of pesticide sprays.
  • Improved human and animal health, and less damage to the environment, as a result of less exposure to chemical pesticide sprays.
  • Improved capacity in the areas of research, licensing and communication through hands-on training, partnerships, exchange visits and workshop participation.

 

Eggplant - India
   
Economic Importance: Fruit and shoot borer is the most serious eggplant pest in India. Damage by this pest starts soon after transplanting and continues until the fruit is harvested. Crop loss is estimated to be between 54% to 70%. To control the pest, the use of chemical insecticides has been the most common approach. Farmers often spray once a week to control this pest. This excessive pesticide use threatens the health of farmers and consumers, and raises the cost of eggplant for consumers. In addition, the insect is becoming tolerant to the chemicals, making it more difficult to control.
   
Partners Within the Country: Indian Institute of Vegetable Research (IIVR), Varanasi
Mahyco Seed Company, India
Tamil Nadu Agricultural University (TNAU)
Sathguru Management Consultants, India
University of Agricultural Sciences, Dharwad (UAS-D)
   
Planned Activities and Milestones:
  • Support Mahyco’s efforts to complete regulatory approval.
  • Initiate communication and outreach efforts.
  • Provide public institutions access to the technology in order to extend it to varieties that are accepted by and accessible to lower income farmers.
  • Provide assistance to public institutions as they seek regulatory approval, licensing and development of additional resistant varieties.
  • Market and distribute the new varieties through private seed companies. Development of other varieties used by poor farmers will be done by public research and academic institutions who are engaged in developing and propagating varieties.
   

 

Project: TOBACCO STREAK VIRUS RESISTANT (TSVR) GROUNDNUT
   
Project Manager: K Vijayraghavan, Regional Coordinator, South Asia
   
Participating Countries: India
   
Term: 2004-2008
   
Partners:
   
Technology: Viruses are encapsulated by a coat protein (CP) that acts as a protective cage for the virus. It has been well documented in many plants that introduction of a specific viral coat protein can render plant resistant to the target virus. The TSV coat protein gene from the virus that occurs in India was transformed into a local variety of groundnut, essentially vaccinating it against the virus, through its own defense mechanism.
   
Project Status:
    The TSV coat protein gene was isolated and prepared for transfer into groundnut at the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center. The TSV coat protein was transferred into groundnut and now those plants are being propagated and analyzed in greenhouses at ICRISAT.
   
Expected Benefits :
  • High quality groundnut seed available on the market at affordable prices.
  • Reduction of crop loss due to tobacco streak virus.
  • Savings in crop protection costs that might otherwise be incurred to protect from tobacco streak virus.
  • Increased income and food security for small scale farmers.
  • Increased ability to continue research on groundnut at ICRISAT.

 

Groundnut - India
   
Economic Importance: In India groundnut is an important oilseed crop, cultivated on 7.5 million hectares, with an annual production of 8 million tons. More than nine million small and marginal farmers depend on this and other small oilseed crops for their livelihoods.
Oilseed crops such as groundnut are cultivated in unfavorable areas for agriculture, where farmers have limited options to grow other crops. The majority of these areas have a single crop in the year and farmers are dependent on the success of these crops for their sustenance as well as to feed their livestock. Groundnut is grown exclusively by small and marginal farmers who have witnessed erosion of their income by more than half due to the virus.
Farmers and their political representatives in affected areas have made finding a solution to TSV one of their highest agricultural priorities and are very supportive of the ABSPII initiative. This cooperative effort will provide an opportunity to commercialize the product once the technology and the product are tested and ready for use.
   
Partners Within the Country: Acharya N.G. Ranga Agricultural University, Department of Biotechnology, India
International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-arid Tropics (ICRISAT), India
National Bureau of Plant Genetic Research, India
Sathguru Management Consultants, India
   
Planned Activities and Milestones:
  • Researchers from India to receive technical training at the Danforth Center (USA).
  • Transfer the technology to ICRISAT to test the resistance of the groundnut to TSV.
  • Conduct greenhouse trials at ICRISAT.
  • Implement marketing strategy and distribute groundnut through the university system and public seed distributors.
   

 

Project: LATE BLIGHT RESISTANT (LBR) POTATO
   
Project Manager: K. Raman, Associate Director, South Asia
   
Participating Countries: Bangladesh, India, Indonesia
   
Term: 2004-2007
   
Partners:
   
Technology: A resistance gene (called Rb) was isolated from a wild relative of potato (Solanum. bulbocastanum). When this gene is transferred to popular varieties normally affected by late blight they become resistant to the disease.
   
Project Status:
  • Scientists in partnering countries have received the Rb gene from UW and are transforming it into selected potato varieties.
  • Scientists in partnering countries have received potatoes bioengineered with the Rb gene and are crossing selected Indian varieties with these potatoes.
  • Indonesian and Indian partners are testing to determine whether the Rb gene is effective against local strains of late blight.
  • If the Rb technology is shown to be effective, efforts to develop this technology will be accelerated in each partner country.
  • Conduct preliminary socio-economic impact study.
   
Expected Benefits :
  • Small scale farmers could benefit economically from increased yields, improved potato quality and savings from reduced fungicide sprays.
  • Environmentally, soil conditions could improve from a decline in the use of fungicide sprays.
  • Countries gain access to advanced biotechnology.
  • Collaboration among potato scientists in South and South East Asia to exchange research data, field testing and commercialization of new potato varieties.

 

Potato - India
   
Economic Importance: Potato, a cash crop, has completely replaced many traditional crops (such as buckwheat, hogmillet and foxtail millet) since the 1960s in India, offering a good source of income to poor farmers. Potato offers a very high weight of food per acre, making it a good option for small subsistence farmers. In 2003, 1.4 million hectares of potato were harvested in India. A very limited quantity of potato is exported, mostly to Sri Lanka and countries in the Middle East, but it is primarily consumed domestically.

Potato is relatively expensive in India because of high production costs, namely poor seed quality and the heavy use of fungicide to control late blight.

   
Partners Within the Country: Central Potato Research Institute (CPRI), India
Sathguru Management Consultants, India
   
Planned Activities and Milestones:
  • Scientists at CPRI have received the Rb gene from UW and are introducing it into selected potato varieties.
  • Scientists at CPRI have received potatoes bioengineered with the Rb gene and are using conventional plant breeding techniques to cross them to selected domestic varieties.
  • Confined trials are being conducted to assess effectiveness of the technology against local strains of late blight.
  • The team will conduct biosafety studies in India.
   

 

Project: DROUGHT AND SALINITY TOLERANT (DST) RICE
   
Project Manager: K Vijayraghavan, Regional Coordinator, South Asia
   
Participating Countries: Bangladesh, India
   
Term: 2004-2008
   
Partners:
   
Technology: The technology, developed by Prof. Ray Wu at Cornell University, involves manipulating the genes required for synthesis of the naturally occurring sugar trehalose. This system is designed such that the bioengineered genes are specifically “turned on” when the plant is under drought or salt stress.
   
Project Status:
    Five generations of transgenic rice plants have been tested under greenhouse conditions at Cornell University.
    Field trials will be conducted to assess the effectiveness of this system under conventional agricultural conditions.
   
Expected Benefits :
  • Introducing advanced technology developed in the public domain will supplement the efforts of national governments to meet the challenges of food and nutritional security.
  • Increased income for marginal farmers through improved crop production.
  • A single technology will be applicable to address two individual constraints: drought and salinity.

 

Rice - India
   
Economic Importance: Rice is grown on about 44 million hectares in India. Over 9 million hectares are severely impacted by drought and salinity. In 2001-2002, 10% of India’s land area experienced severe drought and 19% experienced moderate drought. Water available for agriculture has fallen by nearly 10% during the last decade because of increasing demand from industrial and domestic sectors. The Department of Biotechnology in India considers this situation a high priority and has agreed to provide matching support for ABSPII’s stress tolerance project.
   
Partners Within the Country: Bangladesh Rice Research Institute (BRRI), Bangladesh
College of Agriculture Life Sciences (CALS), Cornell University
Cornell Research Foundation (CRF)
Department of Biotechnology, (DBT), India
Directorate of Rice Research (DRR), India
Central Soil Sciences Research Institute (CSSRI), India
International Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (ICGEB), India
Sathguru Management Consultants Pvt. Ltd.
   
Planned Activities and Milestones:
  • Transform the drought and salt resistant genes into rice varieties.
  • Test for drought or salt tolerance by growth rate measurement. Several additional tests related to stress tolerance will be carried out.
  • Initiate communication and outreach efforts.
  • Determine efficacy of the transgenic plants under greenhouse conditions and controlled field trials, conduct extended field trials to ensure biological and food safety.
  • Marketing and distribution: Once the local varieties are confirmed as drought and salt tolerant, seeds will be propagated through the public seed distribution system to make them available to small-scale farmers.
   

 

  
 
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