Forest Biotechnology in India

Contents: Preface. 1. Forest biotechnology-prospects and perspectives/K. Gurumurthi. 2. Evaluation of genetic diversity in teak populations in Kerala using DNA markers/E.P. Indira, Pramod N. Nair and S. Sabna Prabha. 3. Impact of human disturbance on genetic diversity in teak-an assessment through nuclear gene markers/Pramod N. Nair, E.P. Indira, S. Sabna Prabha and R. Rajalakshmi. 4. AFLP marker analysis for genotyping of teak spp./S.A. Ansari, C. Narayanan, S.A. Wali, N. Shukla, R. Kumar and A.K. Mandal. 5. Evaluation of mating system and contemporary gene flow in teak using microsatellite markers/S. Sabna Prabha, E.P. Indira, Pramod N. Nair and R. Rajalakshmi. 6. Genetic diversity in Eucalyptus species and development of species-specific ISSR markers/P. Chezhian, R. Kamalakannan, T. Balasaravanan. R. Yasodha, M. Varghese, K. Gurumurthi and M. Ghosh. 7. Mining of functional information from Eucalyptus genome to develop allele-specific DNA markers/R. Yasodha, R. Sumathi, P. Chezhian, R. Kamalakannan, M. Varghese and M. Ghosh. 8. RAPD markers for genetic diversity in Eucalyptus tereticornis sm. of Australian and papua new guinea origin/H.S. Ginwal and Shalini Singh Maurya. 9. Studies on identification and genetic relationships of six Albizia spp. using RAPD markers/Subhashree Aparajita and G.R. Rout. 10. Allelic diversity in Cellulose synthase gene in Eucalyptus tereticornis: implications in association mapping/M. Ghosh, P. Chezhian, R. Kamalakannan, R. Yasodha, M. Varghese and K. Gurumurthi. 11. Biochemical and molecular markers for genetic diversity: poplar and Shisham/Salil Tewari, L. Chaudhary, S.K. Upadhyay, Preksha and Rajesh Kaushal. 12. Allozyme variation in populations of pinus roxburghii sargent in Western Himalayas/Rajesh Sharma, D.K. Khurana and Gunar Schute. 13. A comparative phenetic studies in casuarinas using morphometric and ISSR markers/ R. Kamalakannan, S. Barthwal, P. Chezhian, T. Balasaravanan, R. Yasodha, K. Gurumurthi and M. Ghosh. 14. Repetitive somatic embryogenesis from zygotic embryos of teak (Tectona grandis L.) cultured in vitro/K.R. Krishnadas and E.M. Muralidharan. 15. Micropropagation of adult Bambusa Balcooa Roxb. through multiple shoot formation and somatic embryogenesis/T.P. Shali and E.M. Muralidharan. 16. Rapid and simplified method of micropropagation of pseudoxytenanthera stocksii/P.V. Somashekar, T.S. Rathore and K.S. Shashidhar. 17. Development of in vitro protocol for plantlet production of Garcinia: a tree spice/Y.S. Rao, K. Mary Mathew, R. Lakshmanan, K.J. Madhusoodanan and K. Pradip Kumar. 18. Effect of various culture conditions on in vitro shoot multiplication in Bambusa nutans wall. and Bambusa tulda Roxb./Fatima Shirin, Yogeshwar Mishra, Suman Yadav, Pradeep Kumar Patel and S.A. Ansari. 19. Direct shoot regeneration from embryonic axis of oroxylum indicum (L.) Vent/Mamta Gokhale and Y.K. Bansal. 20. In vitro shoot proliferation from Nodal explants of mature trees of Kusum (Schleichera oleosa)/Animesh Sinha and Shireen Akhtar. 21. Micropropagation through axillary shoot proliferation and somatic embryogenesis in Sandal wood (santalum album L.) from mature trees/T.S. Rathore, Mamatha Rangaswamy, Biniya Goyal, Abhay Kumar Dubey and P.S. Rao. 22. Micropropagation of Acacia hybrid (Acacia mangium X A. auriculiformis)/R. Sumathi, P. Malliga, K.S. Rathnam, R. Yasodha and K. Gurumurthi. 23. Clonal micropropagation of subtropical fruit trees/Maneesh Mishra, Rajesh Pati and Ramesh Chandra. 24. Standardization of micropropagation technique for Ailanthus excelsa Roxb. adult tree/N.K. Sharma. R.K. Gupta and Uttar K. Tomar. 25. Economics and factors influencing cost of micropropagated plants/U.K. Tomar, Usha Negi and A.K. Sinha. 26. The role of fungi in the production of aromatic agarwood in Aquillaria agallocha (Roxb.), a commercially important medicinal tree species of Arunachal Pradesh/Karuna Shrivastava, Anuradha Kumari and Tasso Tabin. 27. Nucleic Acid based detection of associated pathogen of witches' broom of dendrocalamus strictus/V. Suryanarayana, Pradeep Kumar and M. Krishnareddy. 28. Screening rust disease resistance in Dalbergia sissoo through artificial inoculation/N.S.K. Harsh, Kamla Uniyal and D.S. Bhandari. 29. Biological control of Fusarium solani through the interaction of trichoderma and AM species: An ecofriendly approach to control vascular wilt in neem seedlings/Mukta Pandey, N.S.K. Harsh and Y.P. Singh. 30. Interaction of AM fungi and Azospirillum enhances growth, survival and nutrient uptake in teak seedlings/R.K. Verma and Jamaluddin.

"Forest science in India is very old and has been, by and large, colonial consumer oriented, which encouraged extraction of forest resources, particularly timbers, medicinal plants, paper pulp, etc. as well as identification of diseases, insect pests and their management in the field and forest depot. Consequently, it fostered reckless exploitation of our forest resources to the extent of their decimation, which underlines the significance of replenishment and productivity amelioration to the level of sustainable utilization, environmental security and climate stabilization. The realization has led to emergence of forest genetics and population analysis, which converges into recent advances in biotechnology.

Tropical forests are repository of valuable gene pool, which needs to be explored thoroughly and can be judiciously utilized for improvement of quality and productivity of existing forests/plantations. Keeping these points in view, it became pertinent to bring all forest biotechnologists together for deliberations to share their research endeavours and chalk out future course of action. In consonance, genetics and plant propagation division, tropical Forest Research Institute, Jabalpur organized a two day national conference on "Tree Biotechnology: Indian Scenario" on February 2005, which was attended by 75 leading forest biotechnologists of the country. They presented about 50 research papers. Of these, the reviewers recommended 30 research papers to be published as an edited volume for benefits of students, administrative authorities and researchers. The first paper presents research status of forest biotechnology in the country, followed by 12 research papers dealing with molecular diversity analysis of eucalyptus, poplar, teak, Albizia spp., etc, employing RAPD, ISSR, AFLP and isozyme markers. Some of the papers were way forward to address allelic diversity of individual gene. The subsequent 12 papers dealt with somatic embryogenesis and micro propagation of tropical timbers, bamboos, acacias, Indian drum tree, etc; whereas the remaining five research papers endeavoured to analyze disease resistance at genetic and molecular level and positive role of bio-fertilizer for boosting forest growth and productivity.

All these papers were critically reviewed and prepared to cater to the need of wide audience. The editors expect that the information contained herein will serve as a strong reference point to foster research advancement in the field of forest genomics and proteomics and help construct high density genetic maps of economically important timber/non-timber forest species that will go a long way in alleviation of poverty of tribals, forest villagers; ensuring sustainable supply of raw material to forest based industries; improvement of environment and arresting of climate change."