MANAMA — Researchers at the Sultan Qaboos Centre for Advanced Agricultural Techniques, based at the Arab Gulf University managed to cultivate some plants exposed to extinction. The plants have been designed to grow without soil in the local habitats of Bahrain through the technique of tissue culture.
The project comes as part of studies conducted by the Sultan Qaboos Chair in Desert Farming, which was established at Arab Gulf University in 1994 due to the importance of desert farming for GCC states which have limited water resources and limited arable land.
Dr Asma Abu Hussain, Director of Desert Sciences and Arid Lands Programme at the postgraduate stage, said that experiments made in the tissue culture laboratories at Arab Gulf University so far have helped re-cultivate three of four types of endangered species of local plants at Al Areen Nature Reserve. According to the findings of a 1989 study on the shifting of sands at the nature reserve, the desertification process in the area has been triggered by the large number of stray animals.
Some of the areas were fenced and observed in comparison to unfenced areas. The fenced areas began to recover after 10 years, while the unfenced areas deteriorated further, said Dr Asma, noting that the endangered species of local plants existed in the unfenced areas, prompting the researchers to find a solution. — ONA
SOURCE / Oman Daily Observer