Ongoing projects

Vegetables Breeding

Coordinators: Dr. Mahmood Lotfi and Dr. Hossein Ramshini

Melon project

In south province of Tehran, there are wide farms suitable for vegetables production. Melon is one of the most important vegetables which is cultivated in this area. For many years, farmers have selected the best plants and now there are some landraces which are cultivated. However, there are several shortcomings related to local varieties. The most important ones are disease and pest susceptibility. Especially the landraces are susceptible to Fusarium, a devastating soil born disease. In this program we have made several breeding populations aimed to developing new varieties to be resistant against different diseases and pests. This project is jointly conducted with Department of Agronomy and Plant Breeding Sciences and Department of Horticultural Sciences.

 

Tomato project

Tomato is an important vegetable in Iran. With over 150000 ha of cultivation and over 6 million tons of production, Iran is the sixth producer of this vegetable worldwide. In this project, in collaboration with Seed and Plant Improvement Institute and Department of Horticultural Sciences, we are producing inbred lines with favorable traits to develop new hybrid varieties. We use molecular markers for selection of best plants. Also with farm evaluations the best plants are selected. 

 

Management and improvement of quantity and quality of Yield of Black Cumin (Nigella sativa L.)

Coordinator: Dr. Iraj Alahdadi

The study of different agronomic mechanisms and their role in improving the quantity and quality of oil is one of the most important goals of this project. In this project, we try to study the factors affecting physiological, ecological and anatomical processes and the role of these factors in improving the quality and quantity of oil. In this project, we will also examine the knowledge of weeds and their role in reducing the quantity and quality of yield of Black Cumin (Nigella sativa L.).