|
Main Page
|
 |
|
News Channel |
|
Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission to produce disease-free banana plants
FAISALABAD (February 10 2003) : Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC) is fully alive to face the challenge of disease threat to banana crop and tissue culture technique is being used to produce disease-free banana plants in Pakistan.
This was stated by Dr Kausar Abdullah Malik, member Biological Sciences
PAEC. Commenting on "Times" report that banana's days are numbered as the fruit lacks the genetic diversity to ward off disease and could eventually vanish from the earth, he said that biotechnology is the solution to produce disease-free banana plants through the latest tissue culture technique.
He said: "NIA Tandojam and NIBGE Faisalabad are already working on banana in addition to other research institutes in Pakistan."
He said that banana is a vegetatively grown fruit crop cultivated over an area of 26,000 hectares with annual production of 93,000 tonnes. He said that over 85 percent of the total area under banana crop are in Sindh.
Dr Malik said that its production decreased up to 90 percent in some areas of Sindh due to banana bunchy top virus disease in 1986.
He said that this disease could not be eliminated chemically and only solution to it is tissue culture.
He said that NIA Tandojam is pioneer in establishing tissue culture of banana in the country. However, now other research organisations are also producing virus-free banana plants through tissue culture technique.
He said that as capacity building measures the PAEC would also hold training courses for the effective dissemination of this technique, which is the only available solution to save banana crop from diseases.
Courtesy Business Recorder
|
|
|
|
|
Pakissan.com; Advisory Point
|
|
