Gujarat's jeera bowl may get bigger

Vijaysinh Parmar/9 June/-10/BHAVNAGAR: Scientists in Bhavnagar have made a major breakthrough — they have been able to genetically transform cumin (jeera) plant with a 'salt responsive gene', thus making the plant resistant to salinity ingress. This is the first successful attempt at this stable transformation of cumin— India is the largest producer of this crop in the world, while Gujarat contributes to 90% of India's production, which is 2.38 lakh metric tonnes — worldwide. This is good news for farmers in India's 'jeera bowl' of Gujarat. This feat was achieved by scientists at Central Salt Marine Chemicals Research Institute (CSMCRI) in Bhavnagar. According to Dr PK Ghosh, director, CSMCRI, transformation of the cumin plant was made through direct gene transfer, using particle gene gun. "Our scientists have been working on this project for the last six years. Initially, we identified a 'salt responsive gene' in a local plant 'Salicornia brachiata' and directly put it into cumin. With intensive scientific experiments, we found that not only was the transgenic gene not rejected by the plant, it was also expressive,'' Dr Ghosh told TOI. According to Professor Bhavnath Jha, scientist and head of marine biotechology and ecology, "Salinity ingress and depleting ground water are becoming serious issues in our country. We have to look for options to salinity ingress and depleting ground water for sustainable agriculture. Salt stress is a major limiting factor on plant growth and productivity. We are hopeful that this genetic transformation will help us solve increasing salinity ingress. This salt-resistant cumin crop will be the Indian farmer's first option." While this experiment adequately exhibited the possibility of the stable transformation in cumin, it is big news for genetically modified crops in the country. "We are trying to make similar transformation in other crops like groundnut and tobacco as well," Jha adds. "At present, we are also working on yield growth after regeneration. We are also studying other genes like drought-resistant crops. We have selected crops in which India is the world leader,'' adds Dr Ghosh