Cloning Forestry Species

Abstract

Over-exploitation of Indian forests has led to progressive decline in the forest cover and its productivity. Since a large number of people depend on forest resources for their livelihoods and many more for meeting their energy needs it is imperative to enhance the productivity levels of our forests for a sustainable harvesting. Way back in 1999, the Department of Biotechnology, Government of India took the initiative of setting-up Tissue Culture Pilot Plants for micropropagation of various plant species. One of these facilities was established at TERI and so far about 12 million plants have been despatched out of which 3.7 million are of forest species alone. The field trials have clearly established clonal uniformity of tissue cultured plants and substantial increase in productivity levels.