Rehabilitating Palestine's Quarries: An Integrated Approach of Alkalinity-Tolerant Barley and Biofertilizers for Sustainable Agriculture
Supervisor Name
Sharaf Al-Tardeh
Supervisor Email
sharaft@ppu.edu
University
Applied Biology, Palestine Polytechnic University
Research field
Agricultural Science
Bio
Dr Sharaf Al-Tardeh, is the head of Department of Applied achemistry and Biology, the coordinator of applied biology program at Palestine polytechnic university (PPU) (since 2017) and chairman of Palestinian Society for Biological Sciences (PSBS) (since 2020). He has a PhD in plant Physiology and anatomy from Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, GREECE (2003- 2008). He has MSc. in Food Quality Management from Mediterranean.Agronomic Institute of Chania (MAIC), A constitute Institute of the International Center of Advanced Mediterranean Agronomic Studies (CIHEAM) (200-2002) and BSc. Biological Sciences/ Yarmouk University, Jordan (1996-2000). Al-Tardeh is a member of renewable energy & environment research unit (REERU) / (PPU) (since 2017), member of the national team to restore research priorities for the water, environment and agriculture sectors, Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research, Palestine (since 2022). He has published numerous publications in peer-reviewed scientific journals and conferences. He was the Chairman of the Annual Conference of Palestinian Society for Biological sciences (4-5th, 2021). He is/was a supervisor and member of examination committees of more than 60 undergraduate students; one master student, four PhD student and one Post doc. Dr Al-Tardeh participated in many national and international workshops, visits and scientific activities. He holds many funded research projects i.e., Palestinian German Ccooperation (PALGER) program, Germany Palestinian Scientific bridge (GPSB), EUPI Research Grants, and Palestinian American Research Center (PARC). He has taught different courses for undergraduates. His research interests include but are not limited to plant stress physiology, anatomy and nutrition, soil amendments, wastewater treatment, Rehabilitation of the quarries and environmental pollutions.
The agriculture in Palestine has retracted in the last decades under the pressure of drought stress, low precipitation, high salinity and alkalinity in the soil. On the other hand, quarries have devastated large areas in Palestine which also threaten the natural habitat of living organisms. In addition, quarries impact negatively not only on plant production and canopy, but also on climate. Quarries and their landfill threaten the natural life by introducing high alkalinity level to the subsoil which affects negatively on the agriculture and crop plant cultivation. One of the most affected crop plants is the barley. It is the major cereal in dry areas in Palestine and is vital for the livelihood of many poor farmers. In this context, the main objective of this research is to explore the barely cultivar(s) that could be tolerant to alkalinity in order to reuse the quarries and their landfill in agriculture in the form of rehabilitation. Thus, the authors will recommend the most resistant barley cultivar for cultivation in Palestine which participate in part in national income growth and mitigate the effect of quarries and their land fill. The main objective is to use plant residues from Palestine in the form of biofertilizer to neutralize the alkalinity of the quarries substrate and enhance its productivity.
