New protocols for planting

It was around 2018 that Plant Genome Saviour awardee M V Prakash Rao tried planting chitramula, a rare herb, on his multi-crop farm. Located in Manchale near Shivamogga’s Sagar, the conditions on his farm were similar to the Western Ghats in terms of soil, temperature and humidity.

However, every time he planted this herb, mainly used to treat skin diseases in Ayurveda, it could not survive. It was during this time that he came across Vinay Kumar Hegde Bhandimane, a young tissue culture researcher in Uttara Kannada’s Sirsi. 

Prakash handed over the saplings of three to four herbs, including chitramula, to Vinay. The researcher then worked to standardise plant tissue culture protocols for the herb, and the sapling was planted on Prakash’s farm.

To his delight, the plant not only grew well, but its phytochemical analysis also showed it had better medicinal values, in terms of secondary metabolite production. 

Vinay is a postgraduate in microbiology and is currently pursuing his doctoral research. He has a research lab, a polyhouse and a demonstration area in Sirsi. Here, he and his wife, Vindhya Hegde, a postgraduate in biochemistry, are conserving around 50 species of medicinal herbs, mainly endemic to the Western Ghats region.

While some of the plants are being conserved by planting saplings in the farms of progressive organic farmers in and around Sirsi, many others are being conserved through in vitro conservation in his lab. In this method, they conserve plants in artificial media under controlled environments, so that the plant parts can regenerate into plants.

Set up in 2016 using funds contributed by his family, Vinay’s Bhandimane Life Science Research Foundation (BLRF) has researched various herbs, horticulture crops, forestry crops and ornamental plants of Western Ghats and coastal areas. The researchers have standardised the plant tissue protocol, which makes the cultivation of these plants viable.

Their nursery has saplings of eight to 10 varieties of rare orchids, apart from banana, wild nutmeg, wild turmeric, cactus, simarouba (used as biofuel) and forest neem.

“The Western Ghats is a treasure trove of plants, especially herbs. We also find many of these herbs in community forests, which are like the backyards of our areca plantations. They can be conserved by cultivating them as intercrops in plantations. But sadly, we are losing many varieties due to habitat destruction, climate change and other factors. We are working to conserve such plants,” says Vinay. 

One such experiment that Vinay and his team are working on is the white jamoon. “White jamoon is rare. But we came across it in a community forest area. After growing it in a controlled environment, we have now planted the sapling in our betta land (community forest) and are studying its properties,” says Vinay. 

Unique methodology

Botanist Keshav Korse, associated with BLRF as a research advisor, says the plants first need to be identified. Then, the rare plants that they find in betta land and other accessible areas of the Western Ghats are brought to the lab, where soil and water analysis are done. They then grow them through tissue culture and test the medicinal properties.

“All plants that we grow through tissue culture do not turn into saplings immediately. We work with around 70 to 80 farmers in six to seven taluks of Uttara Kannada and Shivamogga districts,” adds Korse.

Their work has even helped many jackfruit and banana growers achieve a healthy variety of plants.

Former Additional Principal Conservator of Forests (Research and Utilisation) Dilip Kumar Das commends the team’s work. “Even forest personnel carry out such work, but there are limitations they face as forest staff. Many a time, they cannot keep their research going due to transfers and other duty-related issues,” Das says.

Bengaluru-based retired associate professor of botany, K N Divakar, says Vinay's lab-to-land approach helps in preserving not just the plants, but the ecosystem too. According to him, the toughest part is ensuring that the plant grown in controlled conditions survives and grows in normal land, and this is being handled effectively at BLRF.

Vinay believes in taking his research to the field. It was this belief and his desire to conserve the flora of the Western Ghats that led him to give up research offers in foreign countries and set up a research lab in the small town of Sirsi.

The team hopes to expand its research base to come up with standardised protocols and grow a variety of rare plants to enrich biodiversity. They also wish to collaborate with research agencies and universities so that research outcomes reach the farmers.