Technology Used in Al-Rajhi Saudi Group Agricultural Co.
(Clone Biotech)
The technology of organogenesis, and the plants produced by this technology completely resemble to the mother date palm in terms of type and genetic qualities. Besides, there are other technologies used for production, particularly embryogenesis, which give room for resulted palm shoots to deviate from their genetic origin.
In the Kingdom of Morocco, about one hundred thousand date palms were produced at the early nineties through technology of reproducing date palms through parts formation. Those palm shoots produced fruits, and its similarity to mothers was proved. In the United Arab Emirates the same technology was used to produce about two hundred thousand palm shoots at the tissues culture lab at Emarate University in Al-Ain city. One hundred thousand palm shoots were also planted at the special farm of Shaikh Khalifa bin Zaid, who as the crown prince at that time. No need to tell that those palm shoots have accomplished great success, and produced large quantities, similar to their mothers.
Stages of technology used for producing date palm at our laboratories.
INTRODUCTION STAGE
The topical tissue is extracted from the heart of the mother date palm, and it is sterilized and then cut into small pieces and put into nutritional mediums prepared with growth regulators under special lab conditions for purpose of producing the generated tissues of the bud. This is one of the most critical stages, as it is difficult to obtain a proper tissue culture due to slow response in the nutritional mediums before emergence of the first leaves of buds.
Stage of Formation & Buds Reproduction
When some buds emerge, tissues are transferred to another food media characterized by its ability to form and reproduce the produced buds in test tubes. The process of selecting and transferring buds takes place once a month. The best is every time, and reproduction is accomplished in the same food media, and under circumstances which are different from previous conditions.
Elongation of Buds:
Planting the buds in a medium furnished with types and concentrations consisting of growth regulators lead to emergence of vegetative organs only, without roots, and the length of trunk in this stage may reach ten centimeter. It is worth mentioning that growth takes place in the same circumstances in which buds are formed.
Root Formation Phase
The elongated plants are replanted in a special medium to be developed into whole plants with clear and strong roots. After that, it can be transferred to the agricultural soil inside protected houses.
Adaptation Phase
In this stage, plants are transferred to protected houses in relevant pots. Adaptation process lasts for about one year, and then the small shoots are taken to nurseries.
