A researchers from the University of Basrah are publishing a research in an international journal

Two Lecturers from Date Palm Research Center at the University of Basrah, Dr. Ahmed Madi Al-Mayahi and Dr. Hussein Jassim Sharif in cooperation with Dr. Abdul-Moneim Hussain Ali at the Faculty of Science at the University of Basrah published a research entitled (Influence of Cold pretreatment on shoot regeneration from callus in date palm (Phoenix dactylifera L. ) cv. 'Barhee')

In Journal of Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology which is classified under Scopus classification.

Al-Mayahi explained that the research included an improvement the methods of producing date palm with tissue culture, which attracted the interest of commercial producers. On the other side, this technique is still facing some problems that obstruct the production of date palm plants in the laboratory.

Adding that the aim of the current study is the testing the pre-treatment effect of cold on the growth of callus and leafy branches and the activity of polyphenols oxidase (PPO).

The results showed that the incubation of the callus tissue within a low temperature for 45 and 75 days, helped to obtain the highest percentage of live callus tissue reached (100%), and the highest rate of the leafy branches production reached (66.67 and 73.34%) and the highest rate of number of branches (7.8 and 8.6 leafy branch / 100 mg) obtained from low-temperature cultured callus for 45 and 75 days respectively.