Date palm research centre to be set up in Khairpur

The Higher Education Commission (HEC) would establish a 'date palm research institute' at Shah Abdul Latif University, Khairpur with the cost of Rs 25 million.
According to the HEC here on Thursday, it would also plan and follow up the research programmes for better utilisation of the available local resources, solve problems of growers, confronting date palm production and processing and marketing.
The objective of the project is not only to strengthen and intensify research programmes on tissue cultures techniques on date palms but also establish protocol to obtain true-type plants, disease-free and of higher yield and better quality.
The project also aims at developing technology and data bank for the assemblage, preservation and development of the whole range of existing germ palms and analysing and implementing integrated research programmes on soil, fertilisation and tissue analysis and irrigation requirements.
It hoped that the project would promote production of bi-product of the fruit and carry out research programmes on post-harvest technology and physiology to improve handling and storage of dates to reduce losses.
The project would also help save the soluble portion of Chhuhara waste for the production of Ethanol, single cell protein, amino acids, enzymes and antibiotics, which is in million tonnes, and would plan to implement and co-ordinate training and extension programmes on production, processing and marketing of dates.