Kolkata: The state Food Processing Industries and Horticulture (FPI&H) department is trying its best to make its sole tissue culture laboratory located at Ayeshpur in Nadia and North 24-Parganas border functional at the earliest.
The laboratory has been lying unused since its establishment between 2009 and 2010 because of lack of technical expertise.
"We are trying to make this tissue culture laboratory functional by roping in an interested and competent authority. The department has earmarked Rs 11 crore for running this laboratory and the approval of the state Finance department has already been taken," a senior official of FPI& H department said.
Plant tissue culture is a collection of techniques used to maintain or grow plant cells, tissues or organs under sterile conditions on a nutrient culture medium of known communication.
It is widely used to produce clones of a plant.
The application of tissue culture is mainly for commercial production of plants used as potting, landscape and florist subjects, which uses meristem and shoot culture to produce large numbers of identical individuals.
It is also used for conservation of rare and endangered species and production of identical sterile hybrid species.
In Bengal, tissue culture is widely used for banana cultivation and the Horticulture department has to do this exercise from private laboratories.
There is a demand for tissue culture of 30 lakh banana plants annually and the cost is over Rs 15 per sapling.
"If we can make our own sole tissue culture laboratory functional, then we can cut down dependency on private laboratories and the cost can be saved. The Request for Proposal (RFP) has already been prepared and it will be floated soon," the official added.
Subrata Gupta, Additional Chief Secretary of FPI& H department said the laboratory will start with the tissue culture of banana plants.
However, the state has plans to do culture for orchids, crotons and other decorative plants too in near future.