Lucknow :
There’s sweet news for India. Scientists at the Birbal Sahni Institute of Paleosciences (BSIP), Lucknow, claim that sweet potato plant originated in India and not the United States.
They claim to have discovered a 57 million-year-old sweet potato fossil from the East Garo hill district of Meghalaya, adding that it is older than the last recorded 40-million-old sweet potato fossil found in Colorado, US.
Their premise is based on an 18-year study conducted by a team of three scientists — BSIP’s Rakesh C Mehrotra and Gaurav Srivastava, and David L Dilcher from Indiana University, US.
The sweet potato fossil found in Meghalaya is the oldest in the world, say BSIP scientists.
The study has been published in the international scientific journal “Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences”.
The fossil of some leaves were collected by the two BSIP scientists in 1996 from Meghalaya. After the initial fossil identification study, they found that the leaves were of sweet potato. A detailed research work began in 2000.
“The discovery of a plant fossil is rare because plants’ soft structure is not easily preserved in the rocks,” said senior scientist Rakesh C Mehrotra.
He said that 17 specimens of the fossil of leaves discovered were made to study the pattern of veins in the blade of a leaf and secretory ducts (cells). The study showed that the leaves were of sweet potato and belonged to the ‘morning glory’ family, Mehrotra added. The research was conducted at three herbariums in the country — National Botanical Research Institute, Lucknow; Forest Research Institute, Dehradun, and Central National Herbarium, Howrah.
Mehrotra said the sediment where the fossil was extracted was found to be 57 million years old, hence the fossil was also considered to be of the same date.
BSIP director Sunil Bajpai said it’s a landmark discovery.
“The study will help in understanding the evolutionary origins and the existing concepts of sweet potatoes. It will also help in understanding the climatic conditions and related factors that prevailed millions of years ago.”
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News> City News> Lucknow News / by Mohita Tewari / TNN / May 24th, 2018