Guidance Plus: In a quaint little town called Palampur

Updated on: Tuesday, December 13, 2011

The phrase “Himalayan bioresources” brings to mind something detached from the developed parts of the country and dealing with only snow-clad mountains or forests. But the Institute of Himalayan Bioresource Technology (IHBT) at Palampur in Himachal Pradesh is an institution that conducts research in some of the most modern phases of science. It is a Council of Scientific Education and Research institution. Website: www.ihbt.res.in.

Its location is unique — in the picturesque town of Palampur happily placed in the lap of the majestic mountain of Dhauladhar. Any resource of biological origin is generally termed a bioresource. Research on bioresources may have to be interdisciplinary.

We have another institution that conducts similar research — the Institute of Bioresources and Sustainable Development (IBSD), Imphal, under the Department of Biotechnology of the Union government.

Let us focus our attention on the facilities, activities, and research opportunities relating to the IHBT. It provides R&D services on economic bioresources in the western Himalayan region leading to value-added plants, products, and processes for industrial, societal, and environmental benefit.

Focus

The institute has laboratory facilities for carrying out studies in proteomics, genomics, and metabolomics. (Metabolomics is the study of processes involving metabolites, which are intermediates and products of metabolism). Cutting-edge research is being carried out to unravel the genes involved in important biosynthetic pathway in plants for colour production and secondary metabolite production. Many stress-related genes have been isolated and cloned; their expression analyses are being investigated. Studies on adaptational biology of plants in response to climate change are being carried out.

Nanobiology is another area that gets researchers' attention. The institute works in the area of bioinformatics under the name of “Studio of Computational Biology and Bioinformatics.” It has access to a next-generation sequencing facility as well. The Natural Plant Product Unit focusses on chemical characterisation of active constituents from plant sources, synthetic chemistry, molecular modification for value-added compounds, natural colours, and dyes.

Tea is one of the mandate crops of the institute. It conducts research on germplasm and chemical characterisation, quality and processing parameters, developing value-added products, pesticide residue analysis, tea husbandry, and bioformulation. To facilitate tea research, the institute has a tea garden, a tea factory, and a tea quality testing lab. Plant viral diagnostics is another area of research. Raising virus-free plants is a boon to farmers. The IHBT is rich in scientific equipment for high-end research activities in all the areas indicated above.

Biodiversity

A multidisciplinary group is engaged in surveying and mapping bioresources of the western Himalayas, documenting ethnic knowledge base and identifying medicinal herbs using molecular tools. The division carries out collection, morphological characterisation, and creation of databases of economically important plant species. The division has experimental farms with an herbal garden, an arboretum, and facilities for developing agro-techniques of target medicinal plants.

Biotechnology

Research in this division focusses on three areas:

Plant tissue culture: micropropagation of economically important plants such as tea, bamboo, rose, ornamentals, and medicinal plants.

Plant molecular biology: DNA fingerprinting, identifying cloning of genes, and developing transgenics.

Plant physiology: basic aspects of plant adaptations at high altitude, basis of dormancy, seed biology, and senescence in tea and ornamentals.

Natural plant products

A multidisciplinary group carries out research on plant science, phytochemistry, natural colours, and essential oil of plant origin. Efforts in chemical technology are aimed at the development of bioactive molecules and their synthesis. Chemical modification and formulation of value-added products from plant sources are other initiatives. The institute releases a complete production package for important medicinal and aromatic plants for pharmaceutical and essential oil industries.

Tea sciences

Substantial work is being carried out in the area of tea sciences. There is a convergence of expertise from diverse disciplines such as tea husbandry, agronomy, breeding, entomology, plant pathology, soil sciences, irrigation technology, and processing technology. Look at the initiatives under the division.

Tea husbandry: Development of elite planting material, nursery management, extension, re-planting, and revival of old and abandoned tea sections, weed management, plant nutrition, water management, organic farming, tea farm mechanisation, tea advisory, and extension planting.

Tea processing: Improved manufacturing techniques for quality improvement, hastening of chemical wither and shortening time of black tea manufacture, and product diversification.

Entomology: Advisory on pest management of tea, analysis of pesticide residue of made tea, and screening of active molecule against pests.

Pathology: Tea diseases mainly of fungal origin such as blister blight, root rot, charcoal stump, and so on. The tea science division has an experimental tea garden on 32 acres of land.

Floriculture

Floriculture involves the cultivation of flowering and ornamental plants for gardens and floral industry. In view of the commercial value of ornamental flowers, intensive research and plant breeding for new varieties is significant. The international market of floriculture, according to one estimate, is of the order of Rs.1,00,000 crore; it grows at a fast rate.

Research is carried out on high-value flowers, including agro-technologies under greenhouse and open-field conditions. Work includes phyto-sanitation programmes for production of disease-free planting materials, pre- and post-harvest management of cut flowers, developing hybrids and mutants through conventional and non-conventional breeding programmes, indexing and characterisation of viruses affecting ornamentals, and production of virus-free plants. There is a floriculture field with greenhouse for undertaking agro-technological studies of ornamentals.

Students interested in research in bioresource mapping, biodiversity conservation, and plant viruses will enjoy the congenial atmosphere at the IHBT. There are limited opportunities for research in nanotechnology and bioinformatics.

Guidance Plus: In a quaint little town called Palampur

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