The Energy Resource Institute (TERI), New Delhi, will help apple growers in the state to tide over the problem of obsolete and senile plants and provide virus-free elite rootstocks to them so that the fruit production is enhanced considerably. TERI is carrying out extensive studies in collaboration with YS Parmar Horticulture University, Nauni, to provide virus-free plant material. It will also closely monitor and evaluate the field performance and investigate the graft compatibility. Experts from TERI along with horticultural experts and growers will discuss various aspects of this project here this week in the presence of RK Pachauri, Director. TERI is implementing the project on "Biotechnological interventions for the propagation and improvement of apple rootstocks" in two states, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand. The main objective is to select elite rootstocks and develop cost-effective tissue culture protocols. With the Himachal government implementing a Rs 80 crore Apple Rejuvenation Project, the research and quality plant material being provided by TERI will help enhance the production. Under the scheme, all senile and old plantations are to be replaced with better varieties which are virus-resistant. As part of the project, TERI procurd some established rootstocks from the horticulture university for multi-scale multiplication. The mother cultures were screened for various viruses such as apple mosaic, apple stem grooving and tobacco streak at the National Facility for Virus Diagnosis and Quality Control, New Delhi, and the Agriculture Research Institute and the Institute of Himalayan Bio-resource Technology, Palampur. With the production in old apple orchards coming down considerably due to various factors such as low-density population, poor soil management and use of seedling stock, experts from TERI will provide clonal rootstocks. These will help maintain uniformity and impart characteristics such as dwarfing, early flowering and resistance to various diseases. The tissue cultured plants which are virus-resistant will then be multiplied through micro-propagation and distributed among the growers. TERI has tied up with the GB Pant Institute of Himalayan Environment and Development at Almora in Uttrakhand. It is expected that the production by way of these rootstocks will be enhanced considerably.