GUWAHATI, Sept 24 - The Tea Research Association (TRA) of India released a high yielding seed stock � Tocklai Seed Stock (TSS)-1 � at its 51st annual general meeting held in Kolkata with a day-long programme today.
RR Rashmi, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Commerce, presented the seed stock to Indian Tea Association (ITA) Chairman AK Bhargava and North Eastern Tea Association (NETA) Chairman Bidyananda Barkakoty to mark its release.
This seed stock is suitable for conditions in Assam and has a capacity to withstand the moisture-stress condition, which the State�s tea estates experience during the winter season.
Talking to this newspaper, TRA�s Tocklai Tea Research Institute (TRI) Director Dr N Muraleedharan said the TSS-1 has been developed by the TRI after a gap of 20 years. This is an Assam type seed stock and has been developed by crossing two vegetative clones � TV-13 and TV-17 at the TRI.
�The beauty of this seed stock is that it was developed with full Assam tea characters and it is suitable for Assam,� he said, adding, �The quality and yield of this seed stock have been studied extensively at Tocklai for over 10 years.�
