CTRI to release 3 non-FCV varieties

	Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications Friday, August 10, 2001

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CTRI to release 3 non-FCV varieties

Ch. R.S. Sarma

RAJAHMUNDRY, Aug. 9

THREE new non-FCV (flue-cured Virginia) varieties of tobacco have been recommended for release at the staff research council meeting of the Central Tobacco Research Institute (CTRI) which concluded here on Thursday.

According to Dr K. Deo Singh, Director of the institute, had recommended for releasing Lichhvi, a chewing variety for Bihar with an estimated yield potential of 3,000 kg per hectare, Kaviri, another chewing variety of tobacco for Tamil Nadu with an estim ated yield of 3,000-3,200 kg per hectare and Dharla, a type for West Bengal with an estimated yield of 2,500-2,600 kgs per hectare.

Dr Singh asserted that CTRI had not developed any transgenic, or genetically modified, tobacco varieties and there was no attempt to do so.

A lot of negative propoganda was being carried out to discredit the Indian tobacco and hit at Indian exports. There was no truth in it. There were, however, academic discussions on the implications of such research, he said.

Earlier, on Wednesday, Dr P. Anand Kumar, Principal Scientist at the National Research Centre on Bio-technology, New Delhi, said bio-technology could be made use of to reduce the carcinogenic substances in tobacco and better varieties could be produced. Since tobacco was a model plant, the easiest to work with, he said, several biotech tools and experiments could be tried on it. BT (bacillus thurengenisis) genes could be introduced in tobacco, as in other crops like cotton, to develop pest resistance an d use of chemical pesticides could be avoided.

The use of BT genes is advantageous as they are stable in nature and ecologically safe. They are also harmless to beneficial insects, he said and added that resistance could be developed to horn worm, bud worm and tobacco caterpillar.

Dr K. Nagarajan, the former director of CTRI, called for consolidation of research in the tobacco field, especially with regard to the incidence of white fly in the districts of Guntur, Prakasam and Nellore.