Hyderabad firm launches germplasm bank

The Rs 4 cr facility has 107 lockers in which germplasms will be stored from 5-40 years under minus 20 degrees temperature

Hyderabad-based cold storage company Gubba Group Limited (GGL) on Wednesday launched what it claims to be India’s first private sector germplasm bank at Medchal on the city outskirts.

Set up at a cost of Rs 4 crore, the facility has a total of 107 lockers in two vaults where germplasms will be stored from 5-40 years as long-term preservation under minus 20 degrees temperature.

The company currently has 9 million cubic feet cold storage space and is offering services to over 200 seed companies in India.

It stated that HD Upadhyaya, director, Genebank of International Crops Research Institute for Semi-Arid Tropics (Icrisat), was instrumental in setting up the germplasm bank.

GGL chief executive officer, Gubba Kiran, told Business Standard that the company would rent out the lockers to the seed companies it was already serving and also interested farmers and scientists on a monthly basis. Though it was yet to be finalised, the monthly rent for each locker would be around Rs 25,000.

Kiran was confident that all the lockers would be rented out by the end of this year. “We will get back the entire investment made in the facility in eight years,” he said.

He said conservation of plant genetic resources was not limited to attaining and physically processing the materials but also includes ensuring their existence under variable conditions and with their original genetical characteristics intact. This would be achieved by controlling storage conditions.

“The launch of Gubba’s germplasm bank in private sector is a reflection of our commitment to research and innovation using better technology to meet the challenges in seed preservation,” he added.