Session 6: Translating Plant Science Research into Sustainable Food Security Solutions for the KSA

Speakers

Keynotes

Prof. Salim Al-Babili, Professor of Plant Science and Faculty Member of the Center for Desert Agriculture, KAUST

Prof. Simon Krattinger, Assistant Professor of Plant Science and Faculty Member of the Center for Desert Agriculture, KAUST

Dr. Nahed Mohammed, Post-Doctoral Fellow with Prof. Rod Wing at the Center for Desert Agriculture, KAUST

Prof. Ikram Blilou, Professor of Plant Science and Faculty Member of the Center for Desert Agriculture, KAUST

Key messages

1. Domestication of crops in modern agriculture has resulted in a loss of genetic diversity.[1]

2. Grain production dominates modern agriculture.[2]

3. The KSA is not leveraging powerful tools for breeding crop plants that can introduce a number of critical traits (e.g., heat tolerance, low-water requirement).

4. While the production of other major crop species has been optimized through research and application, basic research in the date palm, one of the KSA’s most treasured and economically important crops, has been largely neglected.

Recommendations

1. Establish a legal framework for the exchange of plant material for scientific research and research on genome-edited plants.

2. Establish a global halophyte seed bank that will place KSA at the center of halophyte crop research and development.

3. Strengthen funding streams for work on novel crop species.

4. Establish agricultural experimental stations for proof-of-concept studies in novel crop species.