Centre sanctions Rs 40 lakh to Bio-tech Professor

Tiruchirapalli, Jul 31 (UNI) The Bio-technology Department of the Union Ministry of Science and Technology has sanctioned Rs 40 lakh to A Ganapathi, Professor of Biotechnology, Bharathidasan University to improve the nutritional quality of soyabean, a release from the University said today.

Soyabean has less than seven per cent alpha tocopherol. The project aims to develop transgenic technology to produce soyabean with more alpha tocopherol.

The Council for Scientific and Industrial Research had sanctioned Rs 20 lakh to Dr Ganapathy to develop the methodology for mass cultivation of withania somnifera through tissue culture. It is an important medicinal plant, which was rapidly depleting, due to indiscriminate collection, the release added.

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