Central Tuber Crops Research Institute

About: Central Tuber Crops Research Institute is a facility organization based out in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Starch & Fermentation. The organization has 475 authors who have published 587 publications receiving 10285 citations.

The morphology of pachytene chromosomes of some eu-sorghums

Abstract: The detailed morphology of the pachytene chromosomes and microsporogenesis have been studied in the six Eu-Sorghums. The pachytene chromosomes are depicted on the basis of total length, relative length, arm ratio, amount and distribution of heterochromatin and number and position of chromomeres. The characteristics of each of the ten pachytene bivalents in the haploid complement are described in detail bringing out similarities and differences amongst them. Based on the idiograms of the pachytene chromosomes, the possible role of chromosomes in speciation and the relationship amongst these Eu-Sorghums are discussed. Two basic archetypes in the 20-chromosomed taxa have been suggested-one with five long chromosomes and the other with five short chromosomes. It is proposed that the present day cultivated forms of Eu-Sorghums are allopolyploids of crosses between two such forms.

Impact of Growth Regulators on Cormel Production and Dormancy Breaking in Elephant Foot Yam [Amorphophallus paeoniifolius (Dennst.) Nicolson]

Abstract: Elephant foot yam ( Amorphophallus paeoniifolius (Dennst) Nicolson) is a popular tropical tuber crop grown for its starchy corms It is propagated through both corms and cormels A field experiment followed by post-harvest study was conducted during 2008-2010 at Regional Centre of Central Tuber Crops Research Institute, Dumuduma, Bhubaneswar, India, to find out the effect of growth regulators on cormel production, dormancy breaking and sprout growth The results revealed that pre-harvest foliar spraying (at 5 and 6 MAP) followed by post-harvest application (soaking the corms for 30 min) of thiourea 200 ppm reduced corm dormancy by 21 days and increased the sprout growth Pre-harvest application of potassium nitrate 200 ppm was found to be effective in inducing cormels This growth regulator can be tried in cormel producing varieties for better cormel production

Status of bacterial wilt of potato in the malwa region of madhya pradesh in india

Abstract: Bacterial wilt caused by Ralstonia solanacearum, is one of the most important diseases of potato in tropical, subtropical and warm temperate regions of the world and is prevalent in many areas in India. The disease was only once reported from Indore and Jabalpur in Madhya Pradesh (India) in 1970, but was never a problem until 2007. From 2007, the disease suddenly emerged as a major constraint for potato cultivation in this region causing heavy crop losses; hence, warranting immediate steps for its management as the region is known to produce potatoes mainly for processing. Therefore, surveys were conducted to know the exact status of bacterial wilt and brown rot of potato and to collect plant and tuber samples from infested fields in several villages of Indore, Ujjain and Devas districts of the Malwa region of Madhya Pradesh during December 2009 and February 2010. The disease incidence ranged from traces to 80% depending upon the seed source. Wherever the farmers used healthy, certified seed, incidence of bacterial wilt and brown rot was negligible or very low. The identity of 21 of 22 bacterial isolates from infected potato plant/tuber samples from Indore, Ujjain and Devas districts of Malwa region was confirmed as R. solanacearum by colony characteristics on Kelman’s TZC agar medium, PCR with R. solanacearum specific primers YII and OLI 1and a pathogenicity test on potato. Using biochemical tests, based on the ability to utilize disaccharides and oxidise hexose alcohols, 21 isolates were categorized as biovar 2 which were further identified as phylotype II sequevar 1 as the characteristic race 3 biovar 2 specific 278 bp band was amplified from their DNA using the primer pair 630/631. All the 21 isolates proved to be pathogenic on potato, 18 on tomato, 15 on eggplant but none on pepper. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of occurrence of R. solanacearum race 3 biovar 2, phylotype II sequevar 1 in the Madhya Pradesh state of India.

Rapid and sensitive detection of Phytophthora colocasiae associated with leaf blight of taro by species-specific polymerase chain reaction assay

Abstract: The failure to adequately identify plant pathogens from culture-based morphological techniques has led to the development of culture-independent molecular approaches. The timely and accurate detection of pathogens is a critical aid in the study of epidemiology and biology of plant diseases. In the case of regulated organisms, the availability of sensitive and reliable assay is essential when trying to achieve early detection of pathogens. We developed and tested the PCR assay for detection of Phytophthora colocasiae, an oomycetes pathogen of leaf blight of taro and of rotting of taro tubers. The method described here is specific for P. colocasiae when tested across fungal, bacterial, and other Phytophthora species. In conventional (single-round) PCR, the limit of detection was 20 pg DNA for both primer sets, whereas in nested PCR the detection limit for both was 0.2 pg. In sampling studies, P. colocasiae-specific primers were used to detect leaf blight in infected leaves and tubers of taro cultivar. The causal pathogen P. colocasiae was detected by PCR from artificially infected tubers after 16 h of post inoculation, before any visible symptoms were present. The method was also tested to detect fungal DNA in infected leaves and infested soils. The PCR assay and direct tissue extraction methods provide tools which may be used to detect P. colocasiae pathogens in taro planting material and thus limit the transmission and spread of new, aggressive strains of P. colocasiae in taro-growing regions.