Key Points
In a bid to generate saplings of threatened or rare native Delhi trees, the citys forest and wildlife department is setting up a tissue culture laboratory at the Asola Bhatti Wildlife Sanctuary..
This will especially target a majority of native Aravalli or ridge species that are facing regeneration challenges and have a poor survival rate due to the invasive vilayati kikar, which does not allow other saplings to propagate easily, said Suneesh Buxy, Delhis additional principal chief conservator of forests..
Once set up, the lab will be able to extract plant tissue from an in-vitro fully grown plant, which will generate multiple trees from the same tree, said the forest department official..
A forest department official said the initial list prepared consists of species that are likely to be suitable for tissue culture practices, and that the list will be updated based on the growth shown by different plants and trees..
Meanwhile, Sohail Madan, who worked at the Asola Bhatti Wildlife Sanctuary till 2023, as a part of the Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS), said that cloning multiple plants from a single plant remains a problem with tissue culture as the clones are susceptible to being wiped out by a single virus or disease..
