Title : Development of cloning technology for commercial application in date palm
Abstract:
Date palm (Phoenix dactylifera L.) is one of the important cash crops for the arid and semi-arid regions in the world. Global consumption of fresh and dried dates is constantly increasing every year. In 2020, the total consumption increased to 9.74 million tonnes globally. Dates are nutrients rich fruit, and it is rich in essential vitamins, minerals, and fibre. It is one of the popular foods across the world in the list of emerging healthy snacks. Thus, such factors forecast an enormous increase in the consumption of dates in the future. Production of high-quality seedlings is one of the major constraints for this growing industry worldwide. Tissue culture technology offers the mass production of desirable varieties, and the plantlets found to be high-quality and true-to-type nature. In the current study, both organogenesis and somatic embryogenesis methods are being employed to standardize the tissue culture protocol for commercial applications with two different explants. In organogenesis, the offshoots were dissected to induce meristems, and then to produce whole plantlet. In somatic embryogenesis, the inflorescence explants are being used to induce callus and maturation of somatic embryos, then germination to produce shoots and roots. The use of various hormones and explants will be discussed to develop commercial tissue culture protocol for date palm. Further, the use of genome sequencing techniques to identify true-to-type plantlets and to evaluate the best protocol for commercial production. Currently, the University of Queensland team is collaborated with the government and private industries to develop tissue protocols for commercial application to advance Australian date industry. As the current project is developed with public-private partners, various pros and cons to develop such projects will also be discussed. Preliminary results and future research plans will be presented which will be helpful for the commercialization of such techniques by various researchers.
