Tissue Culture Seedlings
Plant Tissue Culture is creating new options for variety release and adoption in addition to rapid multiplication and supply of disease-free seed cane of existing commercial varieties. Meristem culture preserves the genetic identity of cane and sugar yield of tissue culture plants.
Tissue culture seedlings of sugarcane help in reducing the impact of pest and disease through their ability to rapidly replace susceptible varieties with resistant varieties and facilitates rapid adoption of new varieties by managing serious diseases that are spread in seed cane like Red Spot Disease, leaf scald, chlorotic streak, Mosaic and Fiji leaf gall.
KIAAR is involved in the production of approximately around 50,000 disease-free tissue culture sugarcane seedlings per annum.
The cane obtained from such tissue culture raised seedlings is used for preparing single eye bud settlings, which are supplied to farmers under Three Tier Seed Programme of GBL.
Single Eye-bud Settlings
Use of single eye bud settlings as planting material is gaining popularity among the farmers. The settling planting helps in increasing the yield and minimising the cost of cultivation. Little portions of the stem with one eye bud are used to raise seedlings in the nursery. They result in uniform and good crop stand when transplanted in main field and facilitates easy gap filling to maintain the population.
Advantages of Single Eye Bud Settlings
- The Settlings are free from diseases
- The Settlings are ready to plant in the field
- Quicker cane development and less time to harvest
- Reduction in cost of irrigation and less cost in farming practices
- Increase in sugarcane yield and sugar recovery
- Helpful in multiplication of newly released varieties
KIAAR produces and supplies around 15 lakh settlings per annum to the farmers.
Bio-fertilizers
Biofertilizers are the microbial inoculants containing live or dormant cells of efficient strains of nitrogen-fixing, phosphate solubilizing, and other beneficial microorganisms that help plants in accessing the nutrients available in and around the rhizosphere. Several microorganisms are commonly used as biofertilizers like nitrogen-fixing soil bacteria (Azospirillum brasilense) and phosphate-solubilizing bacteria (Bacillus megaterium). These beneficial soil microorganisms are cultured and packed in suitable carrier material such as peat, lignite powder, vermiculite, clay, talc, rice bran, or a mixture of such materials to provide better shelf life to biofertilizer formulation.
KIAAR produces and supplies the biofertilizers of Azospirillum brasilense and Bacillus megaterium.