Mandate/Mission

Improvement of cereals and grain legumes namely wheat, barley, lentils, chickpeas and faba bean through crossing and breeding for new improved varieties to be released eventually to the farmers.

Staff

* Head of department Rabih KABALAN

* Research assistant    Joelle Breidy

* Research assistant    Ali Attar

* Other staff: Store keepers, field workers.

On going projects

Title: Station Verification Trials for Cereals and Grain Legumes.

Objective: Identify new promising varieties of wheat, lentil, chickpea and faba bean with high productivity, good grain quality & good adaptation to different climatic conditions.

Duration: Annual

Partners: ICARDA

Title: Cereals and Grain Legume Improvement Projects

Objective: To create new varieties of barley, wheat, lentil and chickpea.

Duration: Continuous.

Partners: ICARDA, ACSAD and Local Farmers.

Title: Collection and Conservation of the Lebanese Flora.

Objective: To collect and conserve seeds of wild plants in Seed Bank, especially Endemic, Endangered, Medicinal, Aromatic, Edible and of Economic Value Species. 

Duration: 1996-2010.

Partners: Royal Botanic Gardens (RBG)-Kew-United Kingdom

Title: Seed Production

Objective: To increase and produce certified seeds of Durum Wheat and to provide treated and cleaned wheat seeds to the farmers.

Duration: Continuous

Partners: Farmers.

Achievements 

Six new high yielding varieties of wheat,barley,lentils and chickpeas were released in the past 10 years to the farmers.

Other Activities

* Study of the Nutritious Value of Some Barley varieties and their introduction in the poultry nutrition (In Collaboration with Poultry Production Department).

* Study of the fungal diseases on wheat improper for human consumption (In collaboration with the Cental laboratory).

Major Constraints/Needs

* Lack of Gene Bank facilities for long term storage of seeds.

* Lack of good farm and seed equipment.

* Lack of human resources, especially technicians