|
To Hindus they bring happiness, to Chinese wealth and to Egyptians love. Occupying a unique place in the world of jewels, pearls are widely known as ‘Queen of Gems’. Their fascinating beauty makes them viewed as magic charms – a symbol of purity and love as well as a source of wisdom and power. Alternatively, it means good economic proposition to meet the increasing demand for pearl in the country and outside. Realizing the potential and the scope of inland pearl culture, the Central Institute of Freshwater Aquaculture (CIFA) at Kausalyaganga, Bhubaneswar, has been involved in its research and development since 1987.
Pearls
According to the ancient Indian system there are nine maharatnas (jewels) – Heera (diamond), Mukta (pearl), Manikya (ruby), Pravala/Munga (coral), Gomeda (hessonite), Indra-neela (blue sapphire), Vaidurya (Lapis lazuli), Pushyaraga (Yellow
Sapphire) and Panna (emerald). Pearl (Mukta) is next to diamond (Heera). Pearl is a natural gem and is produced by a living organism - a mollusk or from different species of marine oysters or freshwater mussels unlike other precious stones. The individual pearl determines the value more than the source. The price is judged by a variety of factors including shape, size, lustre, colour and surface clarity.
A natural pearl is formed when a foreign particle such as a piece of sand or parasite make its way into particular species of mollusc and cannot be expelled. As a defence mechanism, the animal secrets a substance, known as nacre, to coat the foreign body. Layer upon layer of this coating is deposited on the irritant, resulting in a shimmering and iridescent creation of a gem. The cultured pearl undergoes the same process of formation as that of natural pearl. The only difference is that an irritant, otherwise called as nucleus of desired shape and size is surgically implanted into the body of bivalve mollusc where it cannot be expelled. The animal does the rest, creating the precious biological gem, the pearl. Thus, the natural hand is not completely eliminated, infact, it is the animal that determines the character of the pearl produced. The biomineralisation of pearl thus is the outcome of the synergy between men, animal and ambient minerals.
Pearl Culture
Cultured pearls are produced both in marine and freshwater environments. In India, marine pearl culture had its beginning in the early seventies by the efforts of the Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute (CMFRI) and the theory of natural and culture pearl formation in marine oysters is now fairly established.
On the other hand, freshwater pearl culture remained as an unexplored area despite vast freshwater resources and abundant natural stocks of freshwater mussels. Though the occurrence of natural pearls in wild freshwater mussels is very rare, the technology of freshwater pearl culture is getting more and more popular in the country. CIFA is credited of evolving the base technology of growing pearls from freshwater environment using three important freshwater mussel species viz, Lamellidens marginalis, L.corianus and Parreysia corrugata.
Considering the importance and need for greater research and development on the subject, the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), New Delhi has awarded to CIFA ‘Team of Excellence project on Freshwater Pearl Culture’. The objective of the project is to successfully develop and disseminate the state-of-art technology of freshwater pearl culture and to create subject field scientific and technical expert manpower for wider adoption in the country. Mussel surgery, development of alternate nuclei, mussel breeding, algal culture, development of in vitro culture protocol for epithelial cells of mantle, developed pearl products and post-harvest value addition are some of the major achievements CIFA has to its share of acknowledgment in recent years.
The Institute is now disseminating the technology of production of designed pearls through mantle cavity implantation. It has organised national level training seminars to make the technology of pearl culture at a commercial level.
The demand for pearls in the recent past has been fast increasing; but their supplies from the existing fishing grounds have diminished due to over exploitation and pollution. Such a situation necessitated tremendous research attention in the following decades with support from State and Trade sectors, the world over. This led to the evolution of pearl culture technology, as a booming aquaculture enterprise, in Japan and China. These two countries have monopolistic control over the pearl trade. It is reported that the demand for pearls in the international markets is over US $ 2 billion per year. It is estimated that India is spending more than Rs 100 crore per year for import of cultured pearls from China and Japan to meet the ever-rising market demand in our country.
Though the genesis of modern freshwater pearl culture can be traced back to the traditional practice from the 12th century in producing pearl-coated Buddha images in the mussel in lake Tahu in China, the fist crop of Chinese freshwater culture pearls came into international markets in 1970. In Japan freshwater pearl culture attained commercial proposition in 1935. It is reported Japan is producing 8 to 10 tonne of cultured pearls per year. The Japanese freshwater culture pearls are popularly called ‘Biwa pearls’ and are in much demand throughout the world.
Considering the potential resources in terms of huge water area and availability of freshwater mussel reserves all over the country, harnessing its commercial potentials can greatly save huge amount of foreign exchange of the country in the long run.
** PIB, Bhubaneswar, Orissa
|
