Genome sequencing can spin disease-free jute, soon

India’s agricultural researchers have mapped the genome of a popular jute crop grown in the country, making it possible for them to breed newer varieties endowed with better traits.

In a work published in the journal Genomics Data , scientists predominantly from the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) said that the sequencing has helped them identify several thousands of genes that are capable of conferring disease resistance, yield improvement, and better fibre quality.

For the mapping, the scientists led by Nagendra Kumar Singh, project director of ICAR- National Research Centre on Plant Biotechnology, in New Delhi, used a dark jute variety called Navin, which is popularly grown by farmers in India and Bangladesh. Navin is a cross between a jute variety sourced from Sudan and an indigenous one. It has been in cultivation for more than a decade.

Dark jute varieties, commonly known as tossa among farmers, account for 90 per cent of the jute cultivated in the country. This is because dark jute produces softer and stronger fibres, but also because farmers use it for crop rotation in paddy fields.

“Conventionally, developing a new crop variety takes 12 to 15 years. But having genomic data and DNA markers can bring down the time required for breeding a better variety six to seven years,” Singh told BusinessLine . He said the team, which included researchers from ICAR-Central Research Institue for Jute and Allied Fibres, in Barrackpore in Kolkata, and the University of Calcutta, apart from those from ICAR-NRCPB, identified as many 1,700 genes responsible for disease resistance.

Indian breeders in the past have used African jute to transfer premature flowering resistance to indigenous types, which were susceptible to premature flowering in early sowing during March.

Possibly due to climate change, this premature flowering resistance in tossa jute has been found to be breaking down in recent years, resulting in tremendous yield loss for farmers.

“The present genome sequence would allow us to have an insight into the mechanisms underlying premature flowering in tossa jute and identify genes governing the trait. This would help us to breed high-yielding tossa jute varieties with durable resistance to premature flowering in early sowing,” said Singh.

Besides, the genome sequence will help in identifying genes controlling fibre quality traits (fibre fineness and tensile strength) and resistance to abiotic stresses, particularly drought and water-logging.

In India, jute is cultivated on around 822,000 hectares and involves nearly 4 million small and marginal farmers.

This is not the one mapping of a jute variety.

A couple of months back researchers from Bangladesh too, published a genome map of an indigenous jute variety. However, this work is important because compared to the Bangladeshi crop, this is a commercially-important variety.

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