Agronomy and Horticulture Department

Agronomy and Horticulture Department with nine faculty members and research experts has the highest percentage of projects in the Center. The Department follows two basic approaches; improvement crop salt tolerance and development of halophytes as new resources for sustainable and economic utilization of hyper-saline soil and water resources. The task works of the Department also are:

· Identification salt tolerant of field and garden crops

· Determining crop salt tolerant

· Determining salt sensitivity of crops at various growth stages

· Improvement crop salt tolerance by different agronomic, physiologic and biochemical approaches

· Use of high saline water for halophytes production in halo-culture systems

·  Investment the roll of forage crops in soil fertility under saline and sodic conditions

·  Preparing different germplasm of halophytes

· Research on the local halophytes to identify efficient genomes for exploitation high water and soil resources

In addition to the research activities the Crop Physiology Laboratory works also under the umbrella of the Department. The laboratory is fully furnished with the most up-to-date salinity research equipments including chlorophyll meter, photosynthesis meter (LCA-4), leaf area meter, pressure bump, seed counter,… and the ability to perform a variety of physiological and biochemical experiments.