A wood DNA testing laboratory to check timber theft

Timber lab

The Institute of Wood Science and Technology (IWST) is working towards setting up a wood DNA testing laboratory in the city.

IWST is partnering with the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) to create the first of its kind lab in the state. The demand for such a facility arose with the increasing number of wood theft cases in Karnataka.

According to IWST officials, there are a few DNA testing machines available in their xylarium -- a xylarium is a museum that houses a collection of wood specimens. But they are not sufficient as they get cases referred from across south India.

N Mohan Karnat, Director, IWST, said the lab is proposed on the lines of the DNA centre for big cats at the National Centre for Biological Sciences (NCBS).

“With the lab, all wood species can be analysed, and the area to which the wood belongs to can be identified. A database is also on the cards. Rs 2 crore is being sought from the government as funding,” he said.

According to Karnat space is not a constraint, as there is sufficient space in the campus. Once the funds are released the lab will be set up and operational within three years. The lab will not only help in the research of major wood species, but also of lesser known species which are being traded without any checks at the moment, Karnat said.

IWST held talks with the central and state governments on the project in the past year.

The existing xylarium has 3500 samples from 17 countries. The Indian collection has 947 specimens of hard wood, softwood, discs and root wood (representing 231 genus and 399 species) and a foreign collection of 948 specimens (representing 583 genus and 833 species).

The existing xylarium gets around ten crime cases a month, and it takes around 20 days for a detailed analysis.

Officials from the Karnataka forest department and the IWST are in talks with other states and countries to get more wood samples and data, to augment their data and research pool.