Science is an aid to farmers. A team of biotechnologists at Anand Agricultural University (AAU), Anand have achieved a rare feat- the Plant Tissue Culture Laboratory is the first and the only lab in India which has successfully demonstrated micropropagation (Mass Multiplication through tissue culture) of Date Palm. Date palm, however, is known to be a very difficult crop for tissue culture, like other crops of palmaceae family, viz., oil palm and coconut. In India, efforts were made in the past at different places / centers for development of tissue culture protocol for mass multiplication of superior Date Palm trees, but none have reached to a commercial level. Scientists at AAU, Anand have lived up to the aspirations of farmers by successfully developing a tissue culture protocol for Indigenous genotypes of Date palm. Tissue culture assures true-to-type multiplication of plants with known sex, production potential and quality leading to increased production and productivity, which in turn increases the income of the farmers.

Date palm, known as “Kalpavriksh of Kutchh”, is an important fruit tree of arid and semi arid regions of the State (like Kutchh), due to its high tolerance to environmental stresses. It is having immense potential for generating good income from vast unproductive tracts of land. The conventional methods of date palm propagation had many limitations. Seed propagation results into 50% of male tree which are not productive for the farmers, the sex of the tree can only be known when the plant flowers after six to eight long years. Till this time the farmers have to provide farm inputs to on both – male and female trees. However, for pollination and to get good fruit setting farmer need only about 2-3 male trees for every 100 females. The excess of male trees are not needed and hence are ultimately removed. The other method of propagating date palm is through offshoots. However, this method also has several limitations-offshoots are produced in a limited numbers for a certain period in the lifetime of a young palm tree, the number of offshoots produced by an individual date palm tree is highly variable and also varies from one cultivar to another, non-availability of planting material of local elite genotypes in sufficient quantity, etc. Thus, the traditional methods of date palm propagation are slow, laborious, time-consuming and expensive on long run.

Committed to the cause of the welfare of the poor farmers of Kutchh, the scientists at AAU contributed their scientific prowess in Date palm; their dedicated endeavours have borne results. The field evaluation of Tissue culture raised plants of Date palm at Anand and Dantiwada have shown that the tissue culture raised plants have cent-per-cent field establishment (no mortality), early flowering, and profuse suckering. On flowering, all these plants were found true to type with vigorous growth. DNA based molecular makers (viz., RAPD, ISSR & SSR) have also been employed to identify variant plants, however, no variation was observed among the tissue culture raised population, indicating the superiority of tissue culture protocol developed at AAU, Anand. Dr Subhash added that around 1500 plants are under hardening process in different stages.

In Gujarat alone, approximately 14 Lakh highly heterogeneous trees are grown in Kutch region in about 12,493 hectares, which yield approximately 85,381 tons of fresh fruits every year. If the tissue culture revolution sets in, which carries an assurance of increased in quality and better productivity, the fruits from elite trees may start selling at Rs 100 per kg, it really indicates the potential quantum of increased in the income generation. Demand of the fruits is very high in domestic as well as international markets. The traditional genotypes indigenous to Kutchh are sweeter even than the exotic international variety – Barhee. The fruits from local genotypes of date palm have a huge potential to capture the global markets, generating foreign exchange for the state and country. At present the tissue culture raised plants of Barhee variety are being imported from other countries at a premium price. Production of tissue culture raised plants in India will save a lot of foreign exchange also.

Gujarat Government gave a fund of Rs 50 Lakh to undertake this ambitious project for technology development. This technology involves removal of the offshoots from elite Date palm trees of known performance through special tools by skilled workers (without injuring the mother plant). Offshoots of 5 to 10 kg are preferred for initiating the tissue culture work. The outer coverings of the offshoot (leaf bases) are removed one-by-one and the shoot apex is taken out in a very skillful manner-without any injury. Antibiotics, anti-fungal compounds (fungicides) and other chemicals are used to avoid any sort of contamination. The shoot apex is further resized and kept in a glass vessels / containers which have pre-sterilized nutrient medium under aseptic conditions (free from microorganisms). This material is then kept under controlled conditions of temperature (27° C), photoperiod of 16 hours light and 8 hours darkness (using fluorescent tubes). The inoculated material then establishes, proliferates on the media, and multiplies with every sub culture. The stages involved in production of tissue culture plants of date palm are callus initiation followed by somatic embryo induction, development, maturation, germination and finally in vitro plantlet development. For further growth the plantlets are then transferred to a green-house with controlled temperature and humidity conditions. These plants are then gradually acclimatized / hardened by decreasing the humidity and increasing the temperature. These plants are later transferred to polythene bags containing soil based potting mixture for their further growth and development. The plants with one compound leaf are fit to be transferred to the field for cultivation.

The scientists say that one offshoot can produce 2000 tissue cultured plants of date palm. Test at DNA based tests conducted by both NCL, Pune and AAU, Anand have clearly shown that all the plants produced through this protocol are genetically uniform (Clonal fidelity-test showed satisfactory results). It was a team effort, the team under the leadership of Dr. Diwaker Patel and Dr. Subhash N., also received Dr Vikram Sarabhai Award for their outstanding contribution in the field of Biotechnology, for their work on Date palm tissue culture.

Kutch contributes to around 90% of total date palm production in our country. The drip irrigation is the best method to be adopted for it. Date palm requires peculiar weather conditions- Roots in water and crown in the scorching heat (50 °C).

Dr. A. M.Sheikh, the Vice Chancellor of Anand Agricultural University, Anand added that the scientists and the infrastructure of this university are now second to none. Many more research achievements are continually being made which can shape the future of Agriculture of our state. The university is dedicated to producing highly skilled manpower through teaching, and is intensively involved in extension education work for betterment of farmers of Gujarat.

Under the dynamic leadership of Mr. Narendra Modi, Gujarat has attained and retained the highest growth rate in Agriculture sector in entire country-Gujarat is leading with 9.6% growth rate. The Krushi Mahotsav offers an ideal example of extension services covering all the 18,000 villages of the State, it provides a platform to transfer new technologies to the farmers at the same time offers solutions to the problems faced by the farmers. Mr. Modi acknowledges that his scientists move from farm to farm in scorching heat to help the farmers in increasing their income. Gujarat leads the 2nd Green Revolution.