Tamil Nadu - Coimbatore

TNAU signs MoU to develop virus-resistant tapioca

FOcus on NEW TECHNOLOGIES: C. Ramasamy, Vice-Chancellor, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University (second left), exchanging an MoU with M. Ramasami, Managing Director, Rasi Seeds Private Limited, Attur (right), at the university in Coimbatore.

COIMBATORE: The Tamil Nadu Agricultural University and Rasi Seeds Private Limited, Attur, have inked a memorandum of understanding here recently to develop transgenic cassava (tapioca) resistant to the cassava disease caused by a virus.

The MoU was signed by P. Balasubramaniam, Director, Centre for Plant Molecular Biology, TNAU, and M. Ramasami, Managing Director, Rasi Seeds, in the presence of Vice-Chancellor C. Ramasamy.

The programme is supported by the Department of Biotechnology, Government of India, under the Small Business Innovation Research Initiative Scheme.

An indigenous technology developed at the Madurai Kamaraj University will be used to develop cassava varieties resistant to cassava mosaic virus disease.

India enjoys the status of being the highest producer of cassava in the world. But, the major constraint in its production is the cassava mosaic disease caused by a virus.

At present the only way to fight the virus is by using massive doses of insecticides to kill the whitefly that spreads the virus.

The availability of resistance source for cassava mosaic disease in germplasm is rather limited.

The Vice-Chancellor said that such public-private partnerships to develop technologies for resistant varieties would be useful to small farmers to obtain sustainable yield with good quality tubers useful for consumers and the sago industry.

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