Pearl Farming: Pearls Are Being Made Through 'Tissue Culture'. Organic Gems Are Main Attraction Of Exhibition

Noida: The process of making 'Pearl', considered an organic gem, is being depicted at the stall of aquaculture scientist Ajay Kumar Sonkar in the Uttar Pradesh International Trade Exhibition. Seeing it is an interesting and exciting experience for the visiting guests. 

The number of visitors to this exhibition organized by the Uttar Pradesh government is continuously increasing. Special personalities honored with Padma Award have been invited as State guests in this trade exhibition. A special pandal has been set up for them.

Here Ajay Kumar Sonkar is giving a live demonstration of the latest technology of making extremely precious pearls from sea shells in laboratory flasks through 'tissue culture'. The visitors coming to the exhibition are experiencing first hand the formation of pearls by oyster tissue inside the 'flask' through the modern microscope installed at this stall.

Sonkar, a resident of Uttar Pradesh and awarded 'Padma Shri' in the year 2022, said, "The shape, color and quality of the pearl depends on the species of oyster. Therefore I had to move from Uttar Pradesh to Andaman Nicobar, a quiet coastal place, where sea shell species like Pinctada Margaritifera, Pinctada Maxima were available.”

Sonkar said  during the Corona pandemic, he had to return to Allahabad and he started working on growing pearls inside a ‘flask’ using special organs of this sea oyster through ‘tissue culture’ technique. This experiment was successful, he said.

In his special stall, Sonkar has exhibited pearls being formed in tissue through the 'microscope setup' of his laboratory, which became the main attraction of the exhibition from the first day.

In nature pearls are made by marine oysters and freshwater mussels as a natural defence against an irritant such as a parasite entering their shell or damage to their fragile body.

This international trade fair organized by the Uttar Pradesh government. It began on 21 September and conclude on 25 September in Greater Noida. The first edition of this trade fair was inaugurated by President Droupadi Murmu in the presence of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath. More than 70,000 buyers from all over the world are expected to come here. About 2000 stalls related to products and services have been set up in the fair.