Laboratoire de Biochimie et Biotechnologies des Plantes (BBP), Université Cadi Ayyad, Faculté des Sciences-Semlalia, Marrakech, Morocco.
BBP LABORATORY. OVERVIEW
The development of an agriculture of high yield in the arid and semi-arid zones requires a previous characterization of plant genotypes. This allows choosing plants, which associate, at the same time, three agronomic traits; the resistance to abiotic stresses such as drought and salinity and biotic stresses such as diseases, the yield and the quality of the products.
Taking into account its importance in North Africa, the date palm (Phoenix dactylifera L.) is the principal plant studied in the BAP laboratory.
The reasons for the reduced date production in the Maghreb countries are drought conditions, cultivar compositions of the palm groves and the Bayoud disease (Fusariosis caused by a fungus, Fusarium oxysporum f.sp. albedinis). The objectives of many studies in this field are revealing genetic diversity of this species and finding useful markers linked to Bayoud resistance. All investigations contribute to the conservation of this species.
Much of our research relates to education, the other main task of the BAP laboratory. Both undergraduate and graduate students are participating in individual projects. Thus, the laboratory participates in many theoretical and practical courses in the fields of plant biochemistry, genetic diversity and plant breeding.
1/ Extending of the scientific knowledge through publications of the research results.
2/ Local training in the field of plant biochemistry, genetic diversity and plant breeding.
3/ Setting scientific equipment for research and training in the plant field
The funds of BAP laboratory are diversified. The International Foundation for Science (IFS, Stockholm, Sweden), a non-governmental organization founded in 1972 is supporting many projects carried out in the BAP Laboratory. Its mandate is to contribute to the strengthening of capacity in developing countries to conduct relevant and high quality research on the management, use, and conservation of biological resources.
Funding sources of the BAP Laboratory are diversified. During the period 1988-1998, a high part comes from the International Foundation for Science (IFS).
