A valley in the Western Ghats, Palode in Thiruvananthapuram district ,houses the largest conservatory garden and a large collection of herbs, orchids, bamboos and medicinal plants. The Jawaharlal Nehru Tropical Botanic Garden and Research Institute (JNTBGRI) was formed in 1979. The 300-acre institute was conceived as a conservatory botanic garden of endemic tropical plants. It was established as an autonomous R&D organisation by the Government of Kerala.
In 2003, JNTBGRI was brought under Kerala State Council for Science, Technology and Environment (KSCSTE). The Ministry of Environment and Forests and the Centre of Science and Technology of Non-Aligned and other Developing Countries (NAM S&T Centre) has recognised it as a ‘National Centre of Excellence in Ex-situ Conservation and Sustainable Utilization of Tropical Plants Diversity’. It is a member of Botanic Gardens Conservation International.
Garden System
JNTBGRI, which officials claim is the biggest conservatory garden in Asia, has over 50,000 accessions of 5,000 species including 800 ornamental plant species and 250 endemic plants. Exotic plant species constitutes 20 per cent of the collection. The Andaman conservatory has 110 species.
Orchids from Western and Eastern Ghats, Himalayas, north east India, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam, Panama and Venezuela are nurtured at JNTBGRI. Under the Lead Garden and Biosphere Reserve programme, the institute maintains 116 endangered species in a five-acre park.
Bambusetum is India’s largest conservatory for bamboo and conserves 69 species from India, Southeast Asia, Japan and South America. Other highlights are ginger germplasm, medicinal plants germplasm, anthuriums, carnivorous plants, bromeliads (plants that live on treetops and in rock crevices), ferns, palms, ficus collection, cacti and succulents, and gymnosperms.
R&D
JNTBGRI’s multi-disciplinary research wing is recognised as a premier R&D centre in Asia for conservation and sustainable utilisation of tropical plants. It is also an approved centre for research for scholars from Kerala and Kannur University, Gandhigram Rural Institute, Madurai, Sastra University, Tanjore, and the Gujarat Ayurved University. Over 60 PhDs have been awarded and 70 are currently pursuing research.
Biotechnology and bioinformatics
This division is mainly engaged in conservation biotechnology, bioproduction of plant-specific compounds, etc. The biotechnological approach is adopted to develop effective regeneration protocols to help conservation, eco-rehabilitation and sustainable utilisation of various species.
Evolutionary Science
The Travancore herbarium is special, for it contains 100-old plants that were collected by foresters in erstwhile Travancore (now Thiruvananthapuram) kingdom. Currently, the herbarium has around 22,700 specimens, representing 3,052 species. The plants are dried, pasted on handmade paper and labelled. “The Bentham and Hooker system is followed here to classify plants. extinct species are stored here in this way,” says T Shaju, senior scientific assistant.
The department prides itself on the tasks it undertakes — ecosystem assessment and reproductive biology, survey, exploration and documentation of floral wealth, mushroom taxonomy, molecular taxonomy, ecosystem assessment and reproductive biology, rescue and restoration of endangered species, lead garden and bioshpere research programme.
The Ethnomedicine and Ethnoparmacology division documents and propagates the medicinal properties and traditional uses of plants. The Phytochemistry and Phytopharmacology division researches for biologically active molecules, new essential oil sources and standardised drugs.
The Applied Microbiology and Molecular Phylogenetics Lab develops biofertilisers like Trobactrin. The Community Agro Biotechnology Resource Centre is based at Puthenthopu in Thiruvananthapuram. “It is a lab to land programme which intends to reach out to people with low-cost tissue culture, mushroom production, biofertiliser and pesticide production and medicinal plants,” says Shiburaj Sugathan, a faculty member.
Other facilities
The institute has an exceptional library on plant sciences. Their ongoing work include documentation of micro fungi and lichens in Western Ghats, seed bank and commercial tissue culture. Over 15 books and 1,000 research papers have been published by faculty members. They have also produced two herbal drugs — Jeevani and Sisairosp that have been patented and certified. They are available in the market.
Future plans
In the pipeline, are two herbal products — an anti-diabetic and one for liver protection. The institute is also hoping to discover new plants in the Western Ghats. “We will continue our motto of conservation and introduce more people-friendly programmes. We are heading forward steadfastly in research too,” says PG Latha, JNTBGRI’s director. As part of a `1 crore project for banana tissue culture, which is funded by Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana, one lakh banana seedlings will be supplied to women farmers in the next one year. A plant museum is also on the anvil.
— meera.manu@newindianexpress.com