Technology Transfer and Innovation Management.

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Technology Transfer and Innovation Management.

• S.B.Rajbhandary

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Cost reduction of Tissue culture plants

• Tissue culture plants of floricultural,
  horticultural and tree species are commercially
  produced in tens of millions in tissue culture
  factories over the last three decades.
• The application of the technology lags far behind
  its potential because of high production cost of
  tissue culture plants.
• One major factor that entails the high production
  cost of tissue culture plant is in vitro rooting.
  In vitro rooting is reported to account 30 to 70
  of the total production cost.
• A simple and efficient rooting of micro shoots
  in the non-sterile sand has been developed in
  Nepal such that the production cost of tissue
  culture plant is reduced significantly.

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In vitro rooting costs 30-70 of production cost
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Professor Murashige
May 8, 1989
Referred as father of commercial tissue culture.
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Technology Transfer

• Prof. Murashige started classes on tissue culture
  to nurserymen, horticulture teachers and amateur
  plant enthusiasts in 1969.
• The classes served as a basis for establishment
  of commercial laboratories.
• One trainee converted the garage into tissue
  culture laboratory.

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Professor Murashige
Prof.Murashige had recommended ex vitro rooting
for cost reduction in 1974
We told him we worked on the problem and
developed sand rooting
He was inquisitive and asked me if we put any
chemical in the sand
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Banana tissue culture

• Tissue culture of banana in Nepal began in 1989.
• In one year some 4000 tc plants of william hybrid
  were produced and given to farmers.
• Technology passed on to tissue culture factories.
• Over one million tc plants sold to farmers.

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Banana
8-12 weeks cultures
Sand rooted in 6 weeks
Sand rooting
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Just before packing
Packed plants
World price US 1-2 each Nepal price five
plants for US 1
Some one million banana tc plants have been sold
to farmers in Nepal in ten years.
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William hybrid Introduced from Israel in
1982 Fingers per plant 150 Gestation
period 12-14 months Plant height 9-12 ft Size
of finger 10 inch
Weight of finger 200 g
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yield of banana tc plant and conventional sucker
ton/ha

• tc sucker yr
• Nepal 30 15 1997
• Kenya 45 20 2005

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Potato tissue culture

• Appropriate Technology International, USA, an
  international NGO, trained the farmers in sand
  rooting technique of producing potato tissue
  culture plants in 1992-93.
• Hundreds of farmers of Nala and Panauti produced
  tc potato plants by rooting microshoots in sand
  in their polyhouse.

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Sieved sand
Sand-rooting of microshoots by trainees
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Sand rooted cutting
Tubers from tissue culture plant
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Cost of tissue culture plant

• The cost to the farmer for the microshoots was
  less than US 0.02 each
• The cost of potato potato tc plant was quoted
  US 0.50 each in Oregon USA in 2003.

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Polyhouse at farmers field
Light, temperature and humidity are critical for
rooting of microshoots
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Tc potato plants produced by farmers
1993, December 5
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Field planted tissue culture plants
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MS42.3 and Kufrijyoti
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Potato farmers at Nala
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Production of tc potato plant

• Nepal with the present potato cultivated in over
  one hundred and fifty thousand hectares produces
  11 ton per hectare that is well below the world
  average of 16 ton per hectare. This low yield is
  generally attributed to the poor seed tuber
  quality. Thus, Nepal needs some 6 million tissue
  culture plants annually to produce 6 billion
  tubers of third generation to cover the potato
  plantation. This is achievable using sand rooting
  technique.

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strawberry
One test tube plant, Nara var from Japan in 1991
Tissue culture factories sold thousands of tc
plants to farmers in late 1990s
Tens of hectares covered with strawberry in
Kakani producing fruits in tons
Initiation of strawberry tissue culture
coincides with extension of field cultivation
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Strawberry vendors at New Road, March 27, 06
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carnation
,
Packed plants survived air transport to Japan,
USA India One kg of packed box contains 500 tc
plants
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Eucalyptus camaldulensis
Six years old in 1993, 80 cm
Tc sapling 12 week old
Planted in 1987
In Sagarnath thousands of hectares are planted
but average yield is 12ton/ha whereas the yield
increase could be over 50ton/ha based on the
observation of the growth of this tree in 17
years, 2.4cm diameter increase per year
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• Thank you