Researchers at the United Arab Emirates University (UAEU) are planning to create awas set up in 1989 to lead and facilitate research related to date palm production in the country.

Moza Al Shamsi, head of the research and development unit at DPDRU, said the introduction of a gene bank is the “natural next step in the centre’s overall strategy”.

“We are planning to get all the varieties in one area and create a genetic bank here in our lab. We are planning for 150 varieties, with a view of it being a reference, or a date library. We will focus on the UAE varieties – which range from khlass and khenizi to Fard and LuLu – and will work in collaboration with the Khalifa Centre for Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology,”” said Al Shamsi. The genetic bank will complement the centre’s existing processes, such as finger printing, whereby the centre retrieves the leaves, reads the profile and stores the information for future reference.

To date, the DPDRU has produced and distributed one million date palms of 65 varieties,and grows 60,000 to 80,00 plants per year as a result of plant tissue culture.

Al Shamsi explained the process behind the technique: “We start with the mother plants – in the UAE we have more than 200 varieties. We then gradually take off the outer leaves and roots until we reach the heart of the date plant – we call this the meristematic tissue.

We take it to the lab, sterilize it and then the tissue culture technique will begin.