Guidelines for Sampling of tissue culture plants

♦ In case of mother culture every mother plant (clone) will be sampled for virus testing prior to initiation into tissue culture production.

♦ In case of tissue culture raised plants (ex-agar plants / hardened plants), the following scale of sampling for virus and or/quality (genetic fidelity) testing, as the case may be, depending on the lot (batch) size of tissue culture plants produced, just prior to dispatch / shipment of consignment.

Lot size: Number of tissue culture plants to be sampled.

♦ Up to 1000 Nos 1% plants subject to a minimum of 10 Nos.

♦ 1001 to 10000 Nos 0.5% of plants subject to a minimum of 10 Nos.

♦ 10001 to 100000 Nos 0.1% of plants subject to a minimum of 50 Nos.

♦ Finally a random sample of 10 plants will be collected out of the composite sample drawn from each batch of tissue culture production separately for virus / quality testing without contamination.

♦ In case of sampling for quality (genetic fidelity) testing, sample from mother plant (clone) from which tissue culture plants produced will also be collected and forwarded for testing.

Packing/ Labelling/ Forwardal of samples for testing: The sample collected will be blotted dry to remove excess moisture before packing. The sample will be placed in between paper towels, packed in self sealing / zip-lock polythene bags of appropriate size. The sample will be affixed with a label and kept in a ventilated card board box and /or thermocool box for forwardal to Sugarcane Breeding Institute, Coimbatore within specified time under cool conditions.

The packing box will be marked on top of the box with appropriate instructions such as “Handle with care/Tissue Culture Plants/ Rush Delivery” and either couriered or delivered in person to the Plant Pathology Laboratory within 24 hrs period under cool conditions.