Multicellular living organisms and unmodified parts thereof and – Plant – seedling – plant seed – or plant part – per se – Higher plant – seedling – plant seed – or plant part
Reexamination Certificate
1999-03-26
2004-05-04
Bui, Phuong T. (Department: 1638)
Multicellular living organisms and unmodified parts thereof and
Plant, seedling, plant seed, or plant part, per se
Higher plant, seedling, plant seed, or plant part
C435S410000, C530S370000, C800S295000, C800S260000, C800S298000, C800S276000, C800S270000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06730838
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an opiumless and alkaloid-free non-narcotic opium poppy (
Papaver somniferum
) designated as var. Sujata.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
An opiumless and alkaloid-free non-narcotic var. Sujata of opium poppy has been developed by induced mutagenesis (mutation breeding) in an otherwise narcotic (with opium and opium alkaloids both) strain Mass-2B of opium poppy. The var. Sujata is also attributed with high yield of seeds which are rich in protein and oil content both. As such, the variety offers a cheap and permanent means of combating opium-linked abuses across the world. Besides, it also offers a nutritious food item (seed) of high caloric value and largely unsaturated vegetable oil which might serve as a dietary control of coronary heart problem.
Opium poppy is commercially cultivated in a large number of countries, such as Tasmania (Australia), Turkey, Austria, Holland, Poland, Romania, Germany, Sweden, Netherlands, Greece, Portugal, Italy, France, Spain, erstwhile USSR, Yugoslavia, Slovakia, Bulgaria, India, China, Iran, Iraq, Afganistan, Pakistan, Thailand, Laos, Myanmar, etc. covering an area of around 270,000-300,000 ha. across the world. However, based on official records of the International Narcotic Control Board (INCB), Vienna, the area under poppy cultivation way only 37000-56000 ha. (1989-1993) for licit production of opium. Poppy cultivation in India covered 29,799 ha during 1996 for legal production of opium.
However, since opium and opium alkaloids, particularly morphine are addictively narcotic; their illicit production and illegal transactions have perpetuated over centuries worldover. As a consequence, INCB which regulates the opium poppy cultivation in the world, has permitted all the poppy growing countries, except India (with strict licensing system and vigilence exercised by the Narcotic Control Bureau. Govt. of India) to cultivate only straw (CPS) varieties for seeds and not for opium. But these CPS varieties are not free from opium which can be collected by unscrupulous growers for illegal users. Hence, there was a need always fell to combat opium-linked social abuses which has now assumed a serious proportion at global level. Around 17 million people all over the world are opium addicts and about half as much to heroin—a chemical derivative of morphine which is the major component of opium. Development of a plant-type (CPS variety) with neglegible or no narcotic alkaloids in poppy straw was therefore suggested by Liersch and Krzymanski (Postap. Nauk. Rolniezych. Vol. 40/45: 99-100, 1993). Genetic and chemical investigations in Germany revealed that CPS vars. Soma (Sweden) and Przenkc (Poland) had morphine content as low as 0.01% in straw (capsule hulls), and a new cross-bred line RM 9/95 possessed even less than 0.01% morphine, which conforms to the requirement of the German Federal Health Agency (Nothnagel et al., Proc. Intern. Symp. Breeding Research on Medicinal and Aromatic Plants, Jun. 30-Jul. 4, 1996, Quedlinburg, Germany, pp. 120-123). In India also, an accession CIMAP-OP1 was reported to have low alkaloids (0.05% morphine, 0.001% codeine, 0.051% thebaine, 0.13% papaverine and 0.087% narcotine) in straw (Bajpai et al., Plant Breed, Vol. 115: 425, 1996). But again, these strains with low morphine accumulation in straw are not devoid of opium. They can be lanced (incision of the ripe capsule) to collect opium for illegitmate exploitation. The novel approach is therefore to invent and develop an opiumless and alkaloid-free variety of opium poppy which can serve as a cheap and permanent means to control opium abuses across the world.
Furthermore poppy seeds are rich in protein and minerals hence a good source of energy with caloric value 100 g=2050 KJ (cf. Te'te'nyl, Horticulture Reviews, Vol. 19: 373, 1997). As such, they are widely used as an additive, especially in fish curry, in a soft drink—Thandai and in Posta-Halva (a delicious sweet dish) and in confectionary/bakery. Poppy seeds also have some anti-carcinogenic property as reflected by experimental search (Aruna, Food Chem. Toxicol. 30: 11, 1992; Burger, Burger's Medicinal Chemistry, Part II. A Wiley Interscience Publication, 1140, 1979).
Iranians consider the poppy seeds aphrodisiac, constipating and tonic due to the presence of fatty acids, minerals, enzymes, etc. (Nergiz and Oties, J. Sci. Food Agr. 66: 117, 1994).
Still further, poppy seeds contain high proportion of (edible) vegetable oil which is rich in unsaturated faty acids, particularly oleic acid and linoleic acid (Wealth of India: Raw Materials Vol. 7: 234 & 246, 1966). The latter tends to lower down the blood cholesterol in human beings (of Singh et al., Indian J. agric. Sci. 60: 358, 1990), hence poppy seed oil might be useful as a dietary control of coronary heart disease in human beings. The linoleic acid is also the precursor of prostaglandins which maintain skin-growth, kidney-function and fertility (Burger, Burger's Medicinal Chemistry, Part II. A Wiley Interscience Publication, 1140, 1979). Besides, poppy oil is also used against diarrhoea, dysentry and scalds. It is also extensively used for culinary purposes and salad dressing. Several other uses of poppy seeds and oil have been reported by Te'te'nyl (Horticulture Reviews, Vol. 19: 373, 1997).
However, production of such valuable poppy seeds and seed-oil both has always been restricticted due to lack of a non-narcotic which can be extensively cultivated safely without any risk of the opium and opium alkaloids involved in drug trafficking. Therefore, it also calls for inventing and developing a non-narcotic poppy variety—virtually a ‘seed poppy’ which is not only opiumless and alkaloid-free, but also a high yielder of seeds containing high proportion of protein and particularly unsaturated fatty acids in its oil.
OBJECT OF THE INVENTION
The main object of the present invention is, therefore, to develop an opiumless and alkaloid-free (non-narcotic) variety of opium poppy (
P. somniferum
L.) which can provide a cheap and permanent solution to the problems of opium-linked social abuses across the world.
Another object of the present invention is to genetically improve the seed-yield potential (
Posta dana/Khus
-
Khus
) which is impressively rich in protein hence a highly nutritive food component of high caloric value.
Still another object is to select for genetically enhanced capacity of seeds to synthesize more oil content which is largely unsaturated, hence may serve as a natural dietary control of coronary heart disease and a viable supplement to production of vegetable oil in the country.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Accordingly, the present invention provides an opiumless and alkaloid-free non-narcotic opium poppy designated as var. Sujata characterized by the following morphological/agronomic features:
Days to 50% flowering
100-105
Plant height (cm)
80-100
Peduncle length (cm)
18-20
Peduncle colour
Patchy-black
No. of capsules/
3-4
branches per plant
Capsule shape
Flat
Capsule surface
~glabrous
(white bloom +)
No. of stigmatic rays
10-12
per capsule
Shape and size of
slightly small, flattened
stigmatic rays
Latex-flow on incision
Absent
Seed count per gram
3040-3310
of weight
Seed colour
Dull-white
Seed shape
Reniform
Seed size
Bold
(Thickness ++)
Seed yield (g/m
2
)
120-140
Straw yield (g/m
2
)
130-150
(Capsule hulls)
Opium alkaloids in straw
Absent
The invention further provides an opiumless and alkaloid-free non-narcotic opium poppy designated as var. Sujata with 20.8 to 23.9% total seed protein.
The invention further provides an opiumless and alkaloid-free non-narcotic opium poppy designated as var. Sujata comprising the following oil content and composition:
Oil content in seeds (%)
50-52
Palmitic acid 16:0 (%)
12
Oleic acid 18:1 (%)
19
Linoleic acid 18:2 (%)
56
The invention further provides a method for the development of an opiumless and alkaloid-free non-narcotic opium poppy designated as var. Sujata by induced mutagenes
Chandra Ram
Gupta Ajai Prakash
Lal Raj Kishori
Misra Hari Om
Pant Vasudha
Bui Phuong T.
Council of Scientific and Industrial Research
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