Thrust areas Technology transfer

Major activities/flagship projects Patents

Select clients/partners/stakeholders Services offered
Infrastructure facilities

Thrust areas

The Centre offers mycorrhizal technology as a biological and eco-friendly means of

promoting plant growth at a low cost with a minimum input of chemical fertilizers. It's
thrust areas include:

Environmental conservation and pollution abatement, including reclamation

of fly ash overburdens and other wastelands by integrated mycorrhizal
organo-biofertilizer inputs
Wastelands are drastically disturbed lands where native vegetation and animal
communities have been removed and the top soil has been lost, altered or buried.
Examples of wastelands are areas that have been surface-mined for minerals (coal,
paoline, bauxite, gravel, sand etc.), mining wastes, or have had the top soil removed
for use elsewhere creating 'borrow pits'. Wastelands also include sites which have
saline, acidic or calcareous soils, and soils that have been eroded by wind and water.
The natural rehabilitation of such lands is a gradual and slow process.

The Centre is making efforts to expedite the recovery of such areas using mycorrhizal
biofertilizers.

Mass inoculum production

The Centre offers the mass production of viable, healthy, genetically pure, and high-
quality fungal propagules. The technology is commercially viable and has been tested
on different crops and forestry plantations in several edapho-climatic regions to prove
its wide applicability. Two significant features of this technology are:

It permits the standardization of large-scale production technology and distribution of

viable inocula, which will assist in the transfer of technological knowledge to the grass
roots level;
It offers a promosing alternative for the production of AM inocula free of pathogens
using Ri T-DNA transformed roots. It has obvious advantages over other systems,
permitting observation of fungal morphology and development in vitro.

Establishment of agricultural, horticultural and silvicultural plant species with

enhanced yields without using chemical fertilizers
Arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi can utilize phosphorus (P) present at extremely low
soil concentrations and even from unavailable sources of P, thereby providing an
alternative to costly and polluting phosphate fertilizers. Plants inoculated with AM fungi
have increased P concentrations and growth. However, the extent of benefits imparted
by AMF to plants depends upon the plant-fungal combination. The Centre examines
hundreds of AM fungi and determine their preference for vegetable and fodder crops,
flowers and trees.

Conservation of mycorrhizal germplasm

A germplasm bank of mycorrhizal cultures is the largest of its kind in Asia and was
established in 1994 at TERI's field station in Gual Pahari. This facility provides
researchers in commercial and non-commercial sectors specific cultures of their
interest. The facility is well-equipped to preserve the germplasm available in the
country and elsewhere. Cultures have been collected from 12 of 20 different agro-
ecological zones in the country. The bank has an impressive collection of over 450
isolates of mycorrhizal fungi.

Major activities/Flagship projects

Mass inoculum production

The application of mycorrhiza on a large scale is limited by the nature of its
proliferation which is strictly biotrophic. TERI has developed technology for the mass
production of mycorrhiza by exploiting genetically modified host roots using the
bacterium Agrobacterium rhizogenes carrying the Ri T-DNA plasmid. This method
allows a huge recovery of inoculum in very short time span and using very little space
compared to conventional modes of multiplication in pots.

The technology is commercially viable and has been tested with support from the
Department of Biotechnology, Government of India. It offers a biological means of
assuring plant health in a profitable and ecologically sound manner.

Environmental conservation and pollution abatement

The Centre works towards technologies directed at addressing the problematic area of
active/abandoned fly ash ponds. The group has demonstrated the reclamation of fly
ash using specific microorganisms at Badarpur, Delhi and at Korba, Chattisgarh,
without amending good earth and without using chemical fertilizers. (For more
information please see the case study)

Sustainable agriculture
The Centre is actively involved in activities related to sustainable agriculture. The
integrated use of organic manure and mycorrhizal biofertilizers has been found to work
wonders in agricultural fields. The Centre has specific mycorrhizal fungi for vegetables
(onions, potatoes, etc.) fodder crops (barseem, lucerne, sorghum, etc.), flowers
(marigold, gladiolus, aster, etc.), trees (eucalyptus, poplar, etc.). The presence of
mycorrhizal fungi has been found to increase yields by 30%-50%.
The project, "Integrated nutrient management in poplar-eucalyptus based sustainable
agroforestry system" funded by the DBT, Government of India, was carried out by
TERI.
In this project beneficial microbes including mycorrhizal fungi, were integrated with
inorganic fertilizers and manure (INM approach) in a poplar-eucalyptus based
agroforestry system with wheat-pulse rotation.

Efficient management of fertilizer manure and biofertilizer application for achieving

higher productivity - The optimum combination of inorganic and organic manure was
identified for achieving higher plant production with attractive cost economics. Field
trials were conducted on the wheat-pulse rotation. The application of mycorrhizal fungi
resulted in a significant improvement of the overall yield scenario. These findings can
now be passed on to farmers in the region.
Soil health improvement - The nutrient budgeting was also worked out from the
demonstrated model; optimized doses of manure, fertilizers and biofertilizer
contributed to improved nutrient gain and productivity. Both these help in achieving
sustainable crop production.

The project, "Demonstration of integrated organic farming using VAM fungi in aromatic
plants namely Cymbopogon winterianus, C. martinii and Polianthes tuberosa", funded
by DBT, carried out at TERI
Various types of decomposed organic waste were tested and the microbes enumerated.
Some functional properties of microorganisms isolated from mature composts were
also tested. AM isolates collected from target species, organically rich and heavy metal
polluted areas and Centre for Mycorrhizal Culture Collection (CMCC) were mass
multiplied. Compost doses for enhanced crop production of target plant species were
optimized and finally, a compost-AM fungus combination was arrived at for the
development of an organo-biofertilizer for Cymbopogon spp. and Polianthes tuberosa.

Biodiversity studies
The diversity of AMF is studied in different agroclimatic regions of India to identify
fungi for potential use in sustainable agriculture. Isolates in one agro-climatic region do
not necessarily perform well in other regions. Thus, the study of biodiversity,
distribution and diversity pattern of AM fungi in different agro-climatic regions is
important.

Ex situ conservation and long-term storage of mycorrhizal germplasm

Conservation of mycorrhizae is the first step in the overall conservation process, and
begins with the procurement of germplasm and its documentation.
The main objectives of the germplasm bank are:
To identify and procure promising isolates of both ecto- and endo- mycorrhizal fungi
To screen promising native AM fungi
To maintain selected AM and EM fungi permanently
To provide cultures on request.

In the process of developing methodology for effective storage, a technique has been
successfully developed for obtaining a workable protocol for lyophilizing mycorrhizal
fungal species for long term storage in the mycorrhizal germplasm bank. (For more
information please see Centre for Mycorrhizal Culture Collection)

Select clients/partners/stakeholders

Government agencies

Department of Biotechnology
Department of Science & Technology
Ministry of Environment & Forests
Fly Ash Mission

Corporate sector

National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC)

Associated Alcohols & Breweries Limited (AABL)
Tata Chemicals Limited (TCL)
Rameshwar Industries
KCP Sugar & Industries Corpration Limited
Cadila Pharmaceuticals Limited

International Bi-lateral agencies

SDC (Swiss agency for development and cooperation)

IFCPAR (Indo-french centre for the promotion of advanced research)

Infrastructure facilities

Greenhouse
We have four greenhouses to meet our requirements: one for maintaining the cultures
from different agro-ecological zones, the second for multiplication of the selected
promising inoculum and the third and fourth for raising experiments. An autoclave
room is situated close to the greenhouse for sterilizing the growth media to be used for
raising the cultures. Washing facilities are located nearby.

Containers used for pot cultures:

100 ml plastic pots
150 ml containers
300 ml or 500 ml deepots
1500 ml plastic pots
10000 ml cement pots
100ml pots are used only for assessing the Inoculum Potential (IP) of the inoculum and
150 ml pots are used for increasing the inoculum in the initial stages. For producing
inocula in bulk, trap plants are raised in pots.

Laboratories

Microscope laboratory
Spores and mycorrhizal roots are studied microscopically. We have three compound
microscopes (Olympus BH2 model equipped with UV and fluorescence optics, Leica
Galen III and Olympus CH) and two stereomicroscopes (Leica Wild M10 and Leica
Zoom 2000).

Both the stereo- and compound microscopes have photographic camera attachments.
Our image analyser system (Quantimet 500+, Leica) used to produce photovouchers
or images consists of a CCD camera which can be positioned on the Olympus
microscope BH2 or Leica Wild M10. A colour printer is there to make hard copies of the
images.

Molecular biology laboratory

In the molecular biology laboratory, we have facilities for lyophilization (lyophilizer),
shaking (lab shaker with temperature control), gel run (electrophoretic unit), gel
drying (gel dryer), observation and photography of the gel (Gel ManagerTM
documentation system with the rewuired software and CCD camera, (Biosystematica,
UK), PCR cycling (Robocycler 40, Stratagene, USA) and DNA sequencing (Sequencer,
Life Technologies).

Soil testing laboratory

In the soil testing laboratory, soil samples are analysed by using standardized methods
for pH, total soluble salts (as determined by electrical conductivity), organic C, total N,
available P and available K. We also have facilities for assessing physical properties of
soil (particle density, bulk density, maximum water holding capacity, moisture retention
characteristics) as well as analysis of trace and heavy metals (atomic absorption
spectrophotometer). The instruments in the soil laboratory include a digital flame
photometer (CL 22D), thermocenter (Salvis), cyclomix (BS lab), spectrophotometer
(SpectronicR 20 GenesysTM ) and centrifuge (Labofuge, 200).

Clean area
We have three laminar flow cabinets, used for the in vitro culture of arbuscular
mycorrhizal (AM) fungi, maintenance of ectomycorrhizal (EM) fungal cultures and the
culture of other microbes.

Storage of cultured inocula

Storage of AM inocula
The pot contents are allowed to dry in situ after harvesting and then placed intact (or
broken into segments as large as possible) in plastic ziploc bags and stored in a cold
room.

Storage of EM cultures
EM cultures are maintained in MMN medium in a petriplate which are incubated in a
BOD incubator at 25oC. EM culture discs are also stored in sterile distilled water at 4oC
in cold room.

Voucher specimens
Voucher specimens are material representations which can be interpreted by present
and future biologists. We are in the process of making voucher specimens for AM fungi.
We have a collection of hardcopy photographs of AM fungi and have started making
slides and digital photographs of different species of AM fungi.

Growth room
A growth room has been set up for mass inoculum production of AM fungi in vitro.

Technology transfer

In vitro mass production technology of AM fungi to Cadila Pharmaceuticals,

Ahmedabad
In vitro mass production technology of AM fungi to KCP Sugars, Hyderabad
On-farm production technology to Rameshwar Industries Ltd., Raipur.

Patents

Lyophilization of EM fungi
Lyophilization of AM biofertilizer
Mass production AM technology using ROC
Improved techniques of mass production of AM fungi

Services offered

Physical and microbiological characterization of fly ash and soil samples

Macro and micronutrient analyses
Heavy metal analyses
Tests for suitability of site for agriculture-related activities
 Alleviation of metal toxicity by initiating agri-horticultural activities
Consultancy services for rehabilitation of fly ash affected sites
Consultancy services for setting up laboratory/production facility for mycorrhiza
Carrier formulations of biofertilizer micro-organisms
Germplasm/starter cultures of mycorrhiza biofertilizer
Pilot production facilities of mycorrhiza biofertilizer
Efficient inoculants for agri-horticultural and forest plant species
Training in mycorrhizal research
Identification of mycorrhizal isolates
Mycorrhizal culture deposition, maintenance and multiplication
Mycorrhiza Network makes available to researchers the growing literature on
mycorrhiza and facilitates information-sharing among members. A database is
operational for information retrieval and supply to researchers. (For more information
please see Mycorrhiza Network web site)

For further information, please contact

Dr Alok Adholeya
Director, Biotechnology and Management of Bioresources
Division