Srinagar, Jan 25: Believe it or not, the Valley does not have a Gene Bank, something highly essential for the preservation of traditional crop varieties.
 According to experts J&K, which once had more than two hundred traditional crop varieties has lost all but few one by one. Experts said such loss could have been averted with the presence of a Gene Bank.
 Acknowledging the importance of the Gene Bank scientists at the Sheri Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology (SKUAST) said the varsity shall soon be submitting a demand for the same with the government.
 According to the scientists the varsity has already prepared a document for its submission to the authorities concerned by the next month in this regard. 
 Scientists said the absence of the Gene Bank in the state is coming into the way of preserving the indigenous varieties of land races and there is immediate need of having such a facility.
 “In Gene Banks we have low temperature chambers which help preserve the seeds for more than ten years,” they said, adding that in the absence of such a facility “we are required to plant these land races every year to preserve them.”
 Gene Bank, according to the scientists helps in preserving the bio diversity. “It is important for conserving our heritage. There is a lot of hue and cry for conserving Dal for posterity. Similarly, the biological diversities existing in the Valley should be conserved for our future generations,” they said.

New concept:
 “Presently there is a new concept of retrieving back from the original species which existed in the wild form. These traditional crops have some specialized traits which are now being utilized for climate change, draught tolerance, high temperature tolerance etc. So we can look for such traits in our land races for which they need to be preserved properly for which Gene Bank is highly required,” experts said.
Requirements:
 Experts said the establishment of the gene bank is a long procedure and requires plenty of funds. “Gene Bank is a specialized facility where we can conserve the seeds for longer term or short term periods. It requires a special type of building where the temperature can be maintained at 4 degree. We also need to have certain specific type of containers there for keeping the seeds. In addition to this we need 24 hours electricity. Well trained staff to handle all these situations very well is equally important. We also need to have information about each and every seed we are preserving from the source from which we collect them. All this to be done will need lot of money and is a lengthy procedure,” they said.
 “To have the facility the centre needs to fund generously. Plus the Council for Agricultural Research can also support the state in this regard. The state can even approach to some international agencies,” they added.
 According to the experts there is lot of scope for improving the natural biodiversity in the Valley. “We are lucky enough to have lot of bio diversity not only in field crops but also in the horticulture crops, medicinal and aromatic plants etc. We have lot of diversity in all such plants in the Himalayan region,” they said.
 The experts believe that even if the Gene Bank is a national facility there is a need for having it in at the state level as well. “Gene Bank is an urgent need for the state like ours because we have valuable varieties that are unique to us. We have some exclusive crop varieties that all also endangered. We have Saffron, Black Zeera and other specialized crops for which we need such facilities,” they said.

Lastupdate on : Mon, 25 Jan 2010 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Mon, 25 Jan 2010 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Tue, 26 Jan 2010 00:00:00 IST