The Hindu : Kerala News : Vouching for cryo-conservation

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Monday, Jul 23, 2007
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Kerala

Vouching for cryo-conservation

Deepa S. Nair.

Deepa S. Nair , assistant professor of Horticulture at the Krishi Vigyan Kendra of Kerala Agricultural University, Kumarakom, and winner of the Jawaharlal Nehru Award in Horticulture-2006, in a chat with G. Mahadevan.

Cyro-conservation of medical/endangered plants will help Kerala preserve its biodiversity at a time when extreme pressure on land is threatening to push many plant species down the path of extinction, says Deepa S. Nair, assistant professor of Horticulture at the Krishi Vigyan Kendra of Kerala Agricultural University, Kumarakom.

Even though the concept of cryo-conservation is less than two decades old, it is time the State and the country considers preserving at least seed varieties using cryo-techniques, Ms. Nair told The Hindu.

Only July 16, Ms. Nair received the Jawaharlal Nehru Award in Horticulture-2006, instituted by the Indian Council for Agricultural Research, for her research on ‘Rapid Propagation and Conservation of Selected Medicinal Plants Using in vitro Techniques.’

Ms. Nair worked on the Butterfly Pea (Shankhu pushpam,’ the Cowhage Plant (‘Naykkuranam’) and with Indian Indigo (Neelayamari) for developing protocols for ‘perennial conservation’ of these plant varieties using liquid nitrogen.

IT took Ms. Nair, who is a product of the Agriculture College, Vellayani, three-and- a-half years to complete the research.

Now she plans to work on standardising cyro-conservation protocols for plant varieties that may not be around in, say, another fifty years.

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