BANGLADESH ASSOCIATION FOR PLANT TISSUE CULTURE &
BIOTECHNOLOGY (BAPTC&B)
PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS
Professor M. Mozammel Haque
Hon'able Chief guest Professor Dr. Md. Saleh Uddin, Vice-Chancellor,
Shahjalal University of Science & Technology (SUST), Sylhet,
Hon'able
Special guests Professor Dr. Yasmeen Haque, Dean, Life Science, SUST,
Sylhet, Professor Dr. M. Habibul Ahsan, Former Dean School of Life
Science, SUST, Sylhet, Professor Dr. Muhammed Zafar Iqbal, Head,
Department of Computer Science & Engineering, SUST, Sylhet, Professor Dr.
Md. Elias Uddin Bishwas, Treasurer, SUST, Sylhet and Mr. Md. Khairul
Basher, Director General, Bangladesh Sugarcane Research Institute at
Ishurdi, Professor Sk. Shamimul Alam, General Secretary of the Bangladesh
Association of Plant Tissue Culture & Biotechnology, Distinguished local and
foreign scientists, Fellow members of the Association , ladies and gentlemen.
On behalf of the fellow members of the Association and on my own behalf I
take this opportunity to heartily welcome you all this morning at
the inauguration of the Conference, 2012 organized by the Department of
Biotechnology, Shjahjalal University of Science & Technology and sponsored
by the………. We are indeed grateful to you for your kind presence here to
make the conference a success.
Ladies and gentlemen,
My humble submission to Hon'ble Chief and special guest, in spite of your
being extremely busy you have made it convenient to be present here with us to
grace the occasion. We are also grateful to our Chief guests Professor Dr. Md.
Saleh Uddin, Vice-Chancellor, to kindly host this conference here at Shahjalal
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University of Science & Technology. Distinguished scientists, we feel
extremely proud to receive you here on this important occasion. At the same
time we offer our apology for any inconvenience that you were faced with,
while coming to the venue of the conference.
Ladies and gentlemen,
It is customary to place before you the contributions BAPTC&B has so far
made ever since its establishment in 1989 nearly 22 years back. Initially our
research work was confined to plant tissue culture in the Plant Breeding
Laboratory, Department of Botany, University of Dhaka under the kind
supervision of Prof. A. S. Islam. At that time we worked on simple tissue
culture being inspired by the pioneering work of Late Prof. P. Maheshwari.
We never dreamt that a day would come when this applied branch of Botany
would contribute so much toward the improvement of our agricultural crops.
To date we organized six International Conferences. I feel happy to mention
that now if you look at each and every University and Research Institute you
will find work on plant tissue culture and biotechnology is being carried out
vigorusly due to the availability of sufficient qualified faculty members/
scientists and adequate facilities in their laboratories. There are a number of
foreign trained Ph.D. workers engaged in biotechnology
related work.
Employing new techniques such as marker assisted selection, producing
transgenics, they are now busy working side by side with the plant breeders for
the improvement of crops. At one time, in plant breeding problems related to
evolving salt tolerant rice varieties for cultivation in southern part of
Bangladesh seemed to be impossible. Now with the help of genetic
transformation, if not totally, our biotechnologists in Bangladesh Rice Research
Institute in co-operation with their counterparts of the University of Dhaka have
made a headway and attained tangible success. Some salt tolerant rice varieties
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such as BINA-8 and BRRI-47 are now grown extensively in Satkhira, Bagerhat
and Cox’s Bazaar districts.
Ladies and gentlemen,
You may be pleased to know that Bangladesh Govt. has given permission for
confined field trials at various stations of BARI for fruit and shoot borer
resistant eggplants and late blight resistant potatoes. Moreover, vitamin A rich
golden rice varieties are being tested at BRRI. The biotechnologists in
Bangladesh Agricultural University have also made rigorous attempts in
evolving aromatic rice varieties. They have also made sufficient progress for
evolving disease resistant varieties of other field crops.
I am glad to inform you that Bangladesh Sugarcane Research Institute has
upgraded its plant tissue culture laboratory into a full-fledged division. I am
proud to inform you that the scientists there have been able to evolve salt
tolerant and drought resistant varieties of sugarcane which are at present on
field trial at their Regional Research Stations.
It is my great satisfaction to mention here that biotechnology research workers
of Plant Breeding and Biotechnology laboratory of the University of
Dhaka have made sufficient progress in evolving high yielding and disease
resistant varieties of legumes and lentils with the financial assistance in the form
of research projects from Alexander von Humboldt Foundation and
USDA. USDA sponsored biotechnological research programs are also operating
in a number of Universities in Bangladesh. In almost all Universities and
Research Institutes of Bangladesh have taken up Ph. D. programs to produce
their own faculties. It goes beyond saying that in the near future these faculty
members will take up problems and solve them efficiently for the improvement
of agriculture of Bangladesh.
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Ladies and gentlemen,
I shall fail in my responsibility if I do not mention here the encouragement and
financial support of Scientists Emeritus Dr. Kazi Badruddoza, the former
Executive Vice-Chairman of Bangladesh Agricultural Research Council. He
kindly assisted us initially to hold the First International conference bearing the
total
expenses as well as the procurement of equipment and chemicals
necessary to start with the plant tissue culture research in our laboratory at
Dhaka University through USAID. You will be amused to learn that we
arranged the First International conference at such a time when we had neither
any laboratory nor any equipment to carry out plant tissue culture research what
to speak of biotechnology. At the last leg of 1990s we were able to procure
sufficient modern equipment through a project assistance from JICA, Japan.
Our laboratory also received financial assistance to the tune of Tk. 40 lacs for
capacity building from the Ministry of Science and Technology, Govt. of
Bangladesh.
Ladies and gentlemen,
In the beginning of 21st century it was our one of the prime objects to help
create an atmosphere in the country for the establishment of tissue culture based
commercial research laboratories in the private sectors. I am glad to inform you
that during the span of less than 25 years, every University and Research
Institution including BARI, BRRI, BCSIR, Bangladesh Sugarcane Research
Institute (BSRI), Bangladesh Jute Research Institute (BJRI) and Bangladesh
Institute of Nuclear Agrriculture (BINA) has built up its tissue culture and
biotechnology lab. What is more heartening is the fact that BJRI scientists under
the able guidance of world renowned genome scientist, Prof. Maqsud Alam at
the Manoa campus of Hawaiian University are unraveling the entire genomic
picture of the two jute species, Corchorus olitorius and C. capsularis. Some of
the private entrepreneurs showed their interest in this context and as a
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result quite a few private commercial laboratories such as Rentech, Aman
Tissue Culture Lab., AHZ Biotech., Supreme Seed Co. Ltd., Square Agro
Development Processing Ltd., Biotech. Seeds, PROSHIKA etc. have been
established for commercial production of different crops such as potato, banana,
orchids etc. It is hoped that in the foreseeable future Bangladesh will be in a
position to produce its entire requirement of virus-free seed potato, thanks to the
pioneering effort of Professor Monzoor Hossain at Rajshahi University and his
associates.
Ladies and gentlemen,
Bangladesh is now a member of International Centre for Genetic Engineering
and Biotechnology (ICGEB). The Department of Botany, Dhaka University is
the focal point of ICGEB in Bangladesh and as such we have the opportunity to
send our young scientists to the New Delhi campus of ICGEB, India, to do their
higher studies leading to Ph.D.
Ladies and gentlemen,
We have been publishing a biannual research journal entitled "Plant Tissue
Culture & Biotechnology" (BAPTC&B) to facilitate the publication of the
research results of the fellow scientists in the field of Plant Tissue Culture and
Biotechnology in this region in general and Bangladesh in particular. It is my
proud privilege to inform you that the research articles of this journal are
available online and it is being abstracted in different internationally reputed
abstracting organizations. The contribution of Professor A.S. Islam, the Chief
Editor and Prof R. H. Sarker, Execute Editor of PTC&B in this regard is
unforgettable; because of their untiring efforts the journal has earned
International reputation and is considered as one of the best in the region. My
colleagues in both the Executive and in the Editorial Committee have been
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working hard to maintain the International standard of the Journal. I convey my
hearty gratitude to all of them.
Ladies and gentlemen,
I do not wish to tax your patience any more. So, I would like to express my
thanks and gratitude to each and everyone who has helped us make this annual
conference a success, particularly those of Shahjalal University of Science and
Technology. Without their whole-hearted cooperation, the holding of this
conference would not have been possible. Thank you all sincerely, once again
for your kind and patient hearing.
Allah-Hafiz.
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