Weddings likely to be more vibrant as TNAU plans to develop coloured jasmine, tuberose

Coimbatore: Tuberose is white in colour while jasmine is pale yellow. Some people spray artificial colours like pink or blue on these flowers while making garlands for special occasions like weddings. But they may not have a turn to artificial colours if a proposal of the horticulture department of Tamil Nadu Agricultural University gets approval of the state govt.

The TNAU horticulture department is planning to use the cisgenic method to develop coloured jasmine and tuberose. The cisgenic method is a genetic modification technique that transfers genes between closely related species.

The TNAU has submitted a proposal to the state govt to allocate funds for the purpose in the upcoming budget. "If approved, research will be expanded to study other crops as well. The cisgenic method is the best solution to develop climate-resilient variants," said Dr P Irene Vethamoni, dean (horticulture) of the Horticultural College and Research Institute at TNAU.

She said developing a climate resilient crop variant generally takes about six years. By the time the variant is in the market, a new disease or climate crisis would have been identified. "To address this, we have introduced genetically modified crops, but they were rejected by both farmers and the govt. Hence now we have deployed the cisgenics method," she said.

In this method, a gene from a compatible plant of the same species will be extracted to develop the desired variant. "For instance, people nowadays desire purple or pink jasmine for occasions like weddings, for which artificial tint is sprayed on garlands. To address this need, cisgenics is the best technique. In the existing jasmine, a colour-producing gene from its compatible crop will be extracted and inserted into the jasmine plant. This method is more effective to develop customized crop variants and climate resilient crops within a year," she said.

TNAU has been researching this technology in tube rose and jasmine. It has written to the state govt for sanctions funds to expand this technology to other crops. "It has hardly been a year since we started researching through cisgenics," she added.

Another important research development in progress at the horticulture department of TNAU is the grafting technique to address soil-borne disease. At present, they have been researching the moringa plant. Despite introducing various hybrid crop variants, the expected yield is not up to the mark when the seed reaches the farmers. The major cause is the soil condition.

"Here at TNAU, seeds would have been regularly monitored, providing favourable conditions for yield. Whereas when it comes to farmers, it differs from each farmland. Hence, to address this, we've been researching the grafting technique, which is popular in China," she said.

"Based on the soil condition, the appropriate plant root is identified and grafted with the upper portion of whichever crop the farm cultivates. The native breeds like moolanur moringa are identified as the root plant and the upper portion is the usual PKM1 variant. Through this, drought resistant and high yielding moringa plants are achieved," she added.

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