ETT — boon or bane in cattle improvement
By Raman Narang
THERE is no doubt that all cattle development programmes in the country are based on cross-breeding with superior breed of high potential or Indian breed of well-known antecedents.

Test-tube sunflower plants
By Vimal Sumbly
IN a major scientific breakthrough scientists in the CCS Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar, have claimed raising of fully grown miniature sunflower plants in test tubes from small seedlings.

Re-seeding a revolution
By P.P.S. Gill
PUNJAB Agricultural University proudly identifies itself with the Green Revolution which influenced and transformed the socio-economic mosaic in rural and urban segments of the state.

Anti-fungal bioformulations
THE Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi, has developed two eco-friendly bioformulations that are not only effective against a number of crop-damaging fungi but also augment crop yield.

ETT — boon or bane in cattle improvement
By Raman Narang

THERE is no doubt that all cattle development programmes in the country are based on cross-breeding with superior breed of high potential or Indian breed of well-known antecedents. Cross-breeding has been used as an extensive tool by breeders in order to enhance milk production in the country in the shortest time. India almost has become the foremost country in the world in total milk production, of course, in production on per animal basis it still lags far behind.

Artificial insemination (AI) had been another tool with animal reproduction scientists to use a prized proven bull by artificially harvesting semen, processing and impregnation of hundreds of normally cycling cows at a proper stage for production of progeny, whereas a bull can produce fewer progenies by natural reproduction before it is phased out of the herd due to senility or other reasons. Thus AI as it is popularly called, has become a very good tool in the hands of animal reproduction scientists not only to bring out better breeds but also to serve those areas of mountain regions where either the bull cannot be maintained or such bull cannot be taken to.

But in spite of best efforts, the average result of AI is 50-60 per cent in organised, well-managed farms and about 30 per cent at the farmer level. This has blockened the progress of AI and thereby had a far-reaching effect in slowing down the whole process of cattle improvement, through cross-breeding. A lot of efforts have yet to be put in for enhancing the success rate of AI. In advanced countries it is far higher.

Another area which is now considered as frontier area of research in animal reproduction is “embryo transfer technology”. The trend of research has now somewhat shifted to this new area in India. Artificial insemination was based on the selection of a top proven bull, whereas embryo transfer technology (ETT) is based on the selection of a top high-potential cow from which ova have to be collected in every reproductive cycle and allowed to be fertilised and developed in normal cycling ordinary cow. The elite cow is never impregnated to complete pregnancy. Thus the reproductive process is allowed to be performed till the ovulation stage, and cow cycles periodically and ova harvested. The success rate till birth of a calf is very very low.

Embryo transfer in cattle, sheep and pigs is a very common process in the USA, Canada and Australia and some European countries for the past many years. This technique also helps achieve multiplication of breeds, increased reproductive capacity through transfer of embryo from better breeds to inferior ones and export and import of embryos between countries.

The Government of India had also included the ETT in its seventh Plan. The National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) has been entrusted with the job for its implementation at the field level and other institutes like the Indian Veterinary Research Institute and the National Institute of Immuno-logy for training field staff, the National Dairy Research Institute was also given substantial funds to research and propogate the ETT. These institutes have managed to produce a couple of calves using this technique and given wide publicity through the media, creating an impression that the ETT is ready for implementation in the country.

The process is still full of complications at all stages and still it has to meet with routine success at the laboratory level. NDDB staff are being trained to set up regional centres for the ETT with huge financial commitment. The Department of Biotechnology and the Indian Council of Agricultural Research are also spending substantial sums on these projects at various centres.

The ETT in dairy cattle involves identification of donor and recipient cows, utilisation of semen from superior bulls and collection and transfer of embryos. The ability to transmit desirable traits must be the most important long-range consideration of any breeding programme. In dairy cattle a donor cow with high cow index should be used. The index includes not only the performance of the cow but also that of her sire and dam.

The collection, identification, selection of good embryos and finally the transfer are highly technical procedures which can be performed only by a well-trained and devoted team of research workers who have sound knowledge of animal reproduction. All these need laboratory facilities with imported sophisticated equipment.

I would stress the following points for consideration by authorities and societies before implementation of the ETT as a programme to increase milk production in India:

ETT is a good frontier area to do basic research on fertilisation, embryo development, etc. This technique can be practised in organised livestock farms to standardise the technique under Indian conditions.

Under Indian conditions, the ETT should be first adopted to preserve pure Indian breeds which are becoming extinct due to indiscriminate cross-breeding.

Artificial insemination is a very simple technique and involves minimum interference with natural processes. It should be practised with greater thrust and success.

The ETT, of course, requires concerted efforts and tested accuracy for its success, it is the main reason that success in the ETT is a scarce item. In nutshell the ETT has definite advantages:

• The best donor cow can yield at least 50 valuable offspring, whereas in AI 8-10 offspring.
• The best donor cow has not to undergo physiological stress of gestation.
• The oval/oocytes liberation process can be enhanced by super ovulation and more ova/embryos could be harvested through hormone administration.
• The use of poor genetic stock is an added advantage, as surrogate mothers who will act as incubator, without contributing any genetic role.
• Valuable method of offspring production where animals cannot be moved from one area to other due to veterinary restrictions.
• Accurate progeny testing — the more offspring an individual produces, the more accurate its progeny testing in the ETT.

The steps involved in the ETT are:

(a) Synchronisation of oestrus.
(b) Superovulation.
(c) Collection and transfer of embryos.
(d) Storage of embryos outside the donor’s body.

The steps from (a) to (c) involve administration of hormones like the FSH (follicle stimulating hormone) and prostaglandis used for inducing superovulation are very costly and mostly have to be imported. A modest estimate of the superovulating a donor cow and synchronising from recipient cows is about Rs 2,000. The cost of ova transfer per pregnancy is estimated to be $ 2,000 to 3,000 in the USA.

Test-tube sunflower plants
By Vimal Sumbly

IN a major scientific breakthrough scientists in the CCS Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar, have claimed raising of fully grown miniature sunflower plants in test tubes from small seedlings.

According to the Vice-Chancellor, Prof J.B. Chaudhary, this rare breakthrough had been made possible through the experiments conducted by Prof Thomas M. Verghese and Dr Anisha Gupta while investigating the possibility of raising hybrid of sunflower through the micropropagation technique.

Professor Verghese said the plants were made to flower and fruit by manipulating the level and type of various growth regulators in an artificial nutritive medium. He said it was possible to achieve flowering in test-tube plants without roots. He revealed that by modifying the type and quantity of the growth regulator, they could manipulate flowering without roots, producing of roots after flowering or even induce flowering after the production of roots at will.

Professor Varghese said his team also devised the method for postponing the flowering in such plants by neutralising the effect of plant hormones by getting them absorbed by activated charcoal.

Listing the advantages of this process, Professor Varghese said the life cycle of the plant could be reduced from 50 to 70 per cent, thus making it possible to raise a number of generations for quick results in breeding programme. He pointed out that in all possibility, the genes responsible for flowering were triggered to activity under the influence of growth regulators in a controlled environment, enhancing enzymatic activity and protein synthesis essential for the flowering process.

He said the experimental strategy of reducing the life span of the plant to produce short-duration sunflower crops would go a long way in understanding the basic mechanism of flowering and to have several generations of plants within a short period which would help in promoting the breeding of this plant.

Professor Varghese, who has been leading a team of students and scientists in raising a variety of “economic plants” using biotechnological methods, claimed that the technology employed here would also be of great benefit for the fundamental research in plant physiology, biotechnology and plant breeding of sunflower.

Re-seeding a revolution
By P.P.S. Gill

PUNJAB Agricultural University proudly identifies itself with the Green Revolution which influenced and transformed the socio-economic mosaic in rural and urban segments of the state.

If the rate of foodgrain production has declined or stagnated, casting a shadow on the Green Revolution, it also reflects on PAU which shows signs of fatigue.

Those who demand to reseed the “revolution” also ask if there is a Viagra for PAU, which had all along focused on commodity-based research at the cost of inter-disciplinary, system-based and a holistic approach. This has affected adversely PAU’s own teaching and research programmes, besides extension.

Consequently, the production-protection crop technologies evolved and popularised by PAU are faced with new problems, which PAU finds difficult to solve because of system inadequacies There is the absence of monitoring, evaluation and appraisal of its functioning by an external agency.

As agriculture marched ahead, so did the problems posing new challenge. The problems are known to the men who matter, either in the laboratories or who till the land; politicians and policy makers only talk but fail to provide the necessary financial and infrastructural support. How does one expect PAU to break yield barriers and also ensure environment’s sustainablity? Talk of increasing agricultural production and productivity sans needed support is meaningless.

Nevertheless, with problems identified, possible solutions underlined, PAU has come out with a “perspective plan: vision - 2020”. This 94-page document reads more like PAU’s biography and self-praise than showing its visionary abilities. Had it been a peer review, the reading would have been more meaningful. It still goes to the credit of KS Aulakh, PS Sidhu, VC Kapoor and PS Chhala, who compiled and edited the perspective plan for admitting PAU’s failures and suggesting, cautiously, correctives.

The plan devotes considerable space, even at the cost of repetition, to its past achievements and failures and talks of what is required to be done to galvanise its own teaching, research and extension programmes. It refers to the problems and challenges which agriculture faced in Punjab at present. The mention is about a “disturbed” agro-eco-system due to wheat-rice monoculture, environmental pollution, declined water table or waterlogging, deteriorating soil health and emergence of new weeds, pests and diseases. It looks at how the present situation presents uncommon opportunities due to structural changes in economy, globalisation and advances in science and technology, information system and communication.

There as a concern about decreasing per capita land holdings, which are down to 0.2 hectare with further subdivisions not ruled out. About 45 per cent farmers own less that two hectares and 75 per cent less than four hectares. To enable farmers make best use of the small holdings appropriate technologies will be needed. The plan refers to value addition crops, developing post-harvest technology in respect of processing and marketing, etc.

The perspective plan is very emphatic that the Kandi zone, which is rainfed, occupying 9 per cent of the state’s geographical area, must be exploited and developed to raise foodgrain production. There is hardly any mention of new technologies or research frauds. All it focuses on is achieving higher yields through a programme of “hybridisation” and “biotechnology” and evolving varieties which withstand resistance against biotic and abiotic stresses.In the absence of missionary zeal and commitment future talk of “vision-zozo” will remain only on paper.

Come to think of PAU where in many of the schemes 85 per cent of the budget allocated goes into salaries and allowances. The remaining being insufficient even for routine expenditure. There is a growing “mismatch” between equipment, operational funds and manpower. With little hope of the government contributing to resuscitate PAU, the respective plan will remain a perspective “dream” and only a “myopic” vision.

The plan ends on a positive, promising note. It has identified six major programmes” increasing crop yields and productivity; alleviation of problems in the wheat-rice cropping system; bioresources and environmental conservation; enhancing production and potential of animal wealth; improving socio-economic status of the Punjab farmer and farm women; and basic and strategic research and development of human resources.

Unless there is 50 per cent increase in the budget every year for the next five years to implement the identified programmes till then the plan will adorn the shelf of an unknown cupboard in some obscure corner in the corridors of power in Chandigarh and Ludhiana.

Anti-fungal bioformulations

THE Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), New Delhi, has developed two eco-friendly bioformulations that are not only effective against a number of crop-damaging fungi but also augment crop yield.

Both the formulations, “Kalisena SD” and “Kalisena SL” were prepared from the “AN 27” strain of “Aspergillus niger”, a black-coloured fungus present naturally in soil.

The “Kalisena” (black army) formulations are mixtures of an anti-fungal compound and two growth promoters present in “aspergillus niger”.

They have been found to be effective against six soil fungi which cause widespread damage to various crops.

What makes them superior to conventional applications is that only a single application of “Kalisena SD” to seeds and “Kalisena SL” to nurseries is needed to control fungi, says Bineeta Sen, the team leader from the Department of Plant Pathology at the IARI, who developed the new technology recently.

Besides, they have a prolonged shelf-life of two years which is not offered by any other bioformulations, and are safe for use, she adds.

Farm trials carried out by IARI scientists in 10 states against different crop diseases have proven Kalisena’s efficacy, Sen says.

It is estimated that soil pathogens are responsible for crop loss due to diseases.

The Kalisena formulations were found to be effective at concentrations as low as 10 parts per million (PPM) against pathogens like fusarium, pythium, rhizoctonia, sclerotinia, an macrophominia that cause widespread damage to crops like cereals, millets, pulses, oilseeds, fruits, vegetables, tubers ornamentals, fibres and fodder crops, Sen says.

“AN 27” shows multi-pronged action against crop pathogens. After entering the pathogen, it eats the cytoplasm inside the cell, releases the anti-fungal compound and produces iron-binding compounds needed by pathogens for survival.

In farm trials carried out in Uttar Pradesh and Haryana, application of Kalisena to potatoes severely affected with black scruf, successfully reduced disease incidence by 87 per cent with a concomitant 10 per cent increase in crop produce. — PTI

Ornamental plants

Annuals: After the rainy season is over the winter season annual seeds may be sown in the raised nursery beds. Seeds of some special varieties can also be sown in big earthen pots or trays. Water should be sprinkled immediately after sowing the seed and thereafter in the mornings or in the evenings. Protect the seeds from ants, etc. Seeds of sweet pea after soaking in the water overnight may be sown directly into the beds.

Permanent plants: Unwanted growth of ornamental shrubs and climbers, etc. may be trimmed, plants may be staked or tied in position according to the effect or shape required. If some young plants look weak, apply well-rotten FYM.

Sprouted or developed cuttings of bougainvillea and other shrubs, which were planted in the last week of February, must be ready now for lifting from the nursery beds to plant the same in polythene bags or in earthen pots for their future growth. This is the time for air layering of some ornamental plants which cannot be easily propagated through cuttings e.g. rubber plants, variegated varieties of bougainvilleas, etc.

Roses: Planting of new rose plants can also be started this month.

Balbous plants: Well-developed bulbs of gladioulus, nacrissus (nargis), freezia, etc. can be planted. The soil should be well drained and rich in organic matter. Double dehlia plants can be developed both from the terminal cuttings as well as from the bulbs. (Progressive Farming, PAU)