CSIR constituent laboratory, IHBT (Institute of Himalayan Bioresource Technology) , Palampur, recently made history by introducing Heeng (asafoetida) cultivation in Indian Himalayan region.
- The cultivation shall take place in the Lahaul valley in Himachal Pradesh.
- India imports
- About 1200 tonnes of raw asafoetida annually from Afghanistan, Iran and Uzbekistan and spends approximately 100 million USD per year.
- CSIR-IHBT :
- has now introduced six accessions of seeds from Iran through ICAR-National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources (ICAR-NBPGR), New Delhi.
- In the past thirty years, this has been the first attempt for introduction of asafoetida (Ferula assa-foetida) seeds in the country.
- However, Challenge for the scientists is that heeng seeds remain under a prolonged dormant phase and the rate of seed germination is just 1%.