Last Updated on November 12, 2021 12: 03am
The world’s first genetically modified (GM) rubber plant was planted on Tuesday on the outskirts of Guwahati.
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Chairman and Executive Director of the Rubber Board, K.N. Raghavan planted the saplings at the Rubber Board’s Sarutari research farm near Guwahati.
The GM rubber plant was developed at the Kerala-based Rubber Research Institute of India (RRII) through long years of research at its biotechnology laboratory.
Raghavan said that the GM rubber plant, the first of its kind developed exclusively for this region, is expected to grow well under the climatic conditions of the mountainous northeast region.
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He said that the GM rubber plant would be a game-changer in natural rubber cultivation in India, with additional copies of the gene MnSOD (manganese-containing superoxide dismutase) inserted in it.
“The GM rubber plant is expected to tide over the severe cold conditions during winter, which is a major factor affecting the growth of young rubber plants. Natural rubber is a native of warm humid Amazon forests and it is not naturally suited for the cold conditions in this part of the country,” he said.
Raghavan said that through breeding and selection, RRII, a Rubber Board research body, had earlier developed two high yielding hybrid clones of rubber that are adapted to the climatic conditions of the northeast region.
According to the physician-turned-Indian Revenue Service officer, the growth of young rubber remains suspended during the winter months, which are also characterised by progressive drying of the soil.
“This is the reason for the long immaturity period of this crop in the region. The MnSOD gene has the ability to protect the plants from the adverse effects of severe environmental stresses such as cold, drought etc,” Raghavan said.
“Laboratory studies conducted at the RRII in Kerala’s Kottayam showed that GM rubber plants over-expressed the MnSOD gene as expected, offering protection to the cells. Therefore, it is expected that the GM rubber plants will grow fast here,” he said.
Its choice of Assam to plant the first GM rubber also demonstrates the importance it attaches to the region.
A senior Rubber Board official said that seven northeastern states, specially Tripura and Assam, are cultivating rubber in 1,90,000 hectares of land annually, producing 1,11,700 tonne natural rubber.
Over 1.50 lakh families are directly and indirectly associated with rubber cultivation in the northeastern state.