Tissue culture technology for the coffee sector has been standardised for the first time in India. The state-run Coffee Board has signed a memorandum of understanding with Jain Irrigation for the commercial release of coffee plants developed using tissue culture protocols to growers.

“For the first time in the world, we have standardised the tissue culture technology for coffee in India,” said Coffee Board Secretary and CEO KG Jagadeesha.

Over the past six years, Jain Irrigation has been working with the Coffee Board on evaluation and development of the tissue culture technology for the coffee sector.

“We have got seven high-yielding varieties of robustas and arabicas, which can be multiplied using tissue culture and given to growers,” he said. The coffee plants multiplied using the tissue culture protocols have been evaluated on the fields for the past few years. They are performing much better than the regular varieties, Jagadeesha said.

These seven high-yielding lines were identified from plantations by a group consisting of growers and scientists. Compared to the conventional method of producing planting material using coffee seeds, the use of tissue culture technology will help in quick multiplication of coffee planting material without any quantity restrictions. Plants developed through tissue culture technology are considered to be disease-free and genetically uniform that can help increase yields and help produce better quality coffee. As part of the MoU, Jain Irrigation will multiply and sell the identified coffee plants to growers directly while paying a royalty to the Board. The pricing will be decided by the market forces, he said.

The Board will use its extension network for creating awareness among the growers about the planting material developed using tissue culture technology. Also, Jain will establish dealerships or contact points in the coffee-growing areas of Chikkamagaluru and Madikeri, from where growers can book the planting material, he said.

Lack of good quality planting material has been a concern for coffee growers in India, where the last new arabica variety Chandragiri was released in 2007.

A new arabica variety 4595, which shows resistance to the dreaded white stem borer, being developed and evaluated by the Central Coffee Research Institute would also be released through tissue culture, Jagadeesha said.

Jain Irrigation has been a pioneer in developing the tissue culture technology and has successfully improved crops such as banana and pomegranates.