The pandemic is still with us, unfortunately, with no end in sight. The pandemic even came to visit my family and despite the high care we took I managed to get infected. I feel pretty good and hope to get back to full activity soon!
We manage to maintain our routine of research and teaching, even in these difficult days. All teaching has gone online, and it seems that both the lecturers and the students have adjusted well to the circumstances. Regarding our research activity, I can gratefully note that our situation is very good compared to other units in the university. Since we can work, quite freely, in the open field or in greenhouses, I recommend that everyone include, in your research agenda, some observation components of the whole organism. Combining molecular measurements with macroscopic observations will certainly lead to new insights.
Unfortunately, the borders arenearly closed, and academic ties with colleagues outside Israel are beginning to loosen. I encourage everyone to attend international conferences that take place online. Although online conferences are not a satisfactory replacement for in-person conferences where we can speak, face to face, with colleagues, there seems to be a process of continuous improvement in their organization and execution.
It should be noted that the institute will continue to support student registration expenses at international conferences, so I think everyone should try their best to attend these conferences. An interesting personal point is that almost every article I have published in a scientific journal was first presented at a conference as a poster or a lecture. It is an integral part of the process of organizing one’s thoughts and also serves as a preliminary exposure to our supportive scientific community. This exposure promotes constructive criticism, as well as future collaborations.
An excellent example of an online international conference is the DDD Conference organized by Prof. Shimon Rachmilevitch. The conference ended two weeks ago and had 2400 participants from 110 countries. These remarkable numbers show the relevance of the areas in which we are engaged. I really enjoyed the conference, and I recommend that everyone watch the recorded lectures if they were not able to attend.
On December 6, we will start the Desert-Tech and Sustainability Entrepreneurship workshop. The course, in collaboration with and with the support of the Yazamut-360 initiative of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, will deal with the challenges faced by entrepreneurs and executives in the desert-tech and sustainability industry in its various aspects and segments (e.g., water technology, agricultural biotechnology, alternative energy, environmental sustainability, etc.). Participants will be exposed to the various critical issues involved in establishing and managing a successful venture in the field. In addition to frontal lectures, participants will meet with guest speakers and entrepreneurs from the field, analyze case studies, and gain hands-on experience in the practical work of setting up an enterprise.
My name is Kaining Zhou, a PhD student under the supervision of Prof. Jhonathan Ephrath and Prof. Naftali Lazarovitch.
My hometown is Ningxia, located in a typical arid to semi-arid region in China. I came to Israel to study in the Desert Studies Department with the dream of learning cutting-edge arid agricultural techniques so that I can contribute to the agricultural development in my hometown. My advisors introduced me to the fascinating world of roots, the hidden half of plants. We are interested in enhancing crop performance under stress conditions by optimizing root morphological traits and spatial distribution, to ultimately increase crop yield.
As Henry David Thoreau put it in his book Faith in a Seed, “Though I do not believe that a plant will spring up where no seed has been, I have great faith in a seed. Convince me that you have a seed there, and I am prepared to expect wonders.” Similarly, I do not believe that a plant will develop where no roots exist. I have great faith in roots. Wherever stress conditions are present, I am prepared to expect wonders with better roots.
I was blessed to receive the Tsin Midway Scholarship funded by the Kreitman School, the Desert Studies Department, and my advisors since 2019. I also received a scholarship from the Kessel Salinity Center for Agricultural Biology in 2020.
These scholarships have motivated me to be a better researcher in root studies. Currently, I am studying the combined effects of container size, salinity, and fruit load intensity on root growth and development. The main piece of equipment used for monitoring root dynamics is the minirhizotron system. In addition, I am cooperating with Adam Soffer, a computer scientist, to develop a tool to automatically analyze roots in minirhizotron images using machine learning techniques.
In my spare time, I write for a Chinese blog called Arid Agricultural in Israel, which aims to introduce advancements in desert agricultural studies to more people in China. The blog has been visited more than 10,000 times.
Chair Nominations
Dr Nina Kamennaya - Elias and Frances Margolin Career Development Chair in Environmental and Desert Studies and Research
Prof. Aaron Fait - Maxs and Rochelle Etingin Chair in Desert Research
Prof. Naftali Lazarovitch - Boyko Chair in Saline Water Irrigation
December Seminars
2/12Eugenio Diaz-Pines
Title: Effects of repeated soil drying-wetting cycles in a beech forest. A long-term manipulation study
9/12 Jingbo Zhen, a Ph.D. candidate under the supervision of Prof. Naftali Lazarovitch.
Title: Feedbacks between water and carbon balances in date palms under different irrigation and fruit load regimes
16/12 Maria Camale, a Ph.D. candidate under the supervision of Prof. Noemi Tel-Zur.
Title: Characterization of compatible and incompatible melon graft combinations
23/12 Dr Shmulik Friedman
Title: Review and evaluation of root respiration and of natural and agricultural processes of soil aeration
30/12 Ji Hyun Kim, a Ph.D. candidate under the supervision of Prof. Dina Zilberg.
Title:Translating diatom grazer defense mechanism to anti-parasitic treatment in monogenean infection on guppies
Drylands, Deserts and Desertification (DDD) 2020 Conference Summary
The Seventh International Drylands, Deserts, and Desertification Online Conference, DDD2020, took place November 16-18, 2020.
Conference greetings were given by Mr. Ibrahim Thiaw, the executive secretary of the UNCCD, the Zambian Ambassador to Israel, and the Dean of the African Ambassadors to Israel, H.E. Martin Mwanble, the Italian Ambassador to Israel, H.E. Gianluigi Benediti, the Minister of Environmental Protection Minister, Gila Gamliel, the Director of the Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research, Prof. Noam Weisbrod, and the President of Ben-Gurion University, Prof. Daniel Chaimovitz.
This year’s theme, “Feeding the drylands: challenges in a changing environment,” concerns every living organism on our planet.
The sessions in the conference dealt with challenges to human health, food and water availability, and ecosystems.
All together, there were 31 sessions, including 45 presentations within the food challenges theme that was led by the French Associates Institute for Agriculture and Biotechnology of Drylands.
DDD2020 was a great success, with over 2400 participants from over 110 countries worldwide (see the list below) that constitute approximately 95% of the population on earth.
The conference also received wide attention from the national and international media, including radio, television, and print articles.
This conference’s diverse international audience and its wide media exposure are proof of the importance of the issues dealt with in the DDD, as well as the conference’s continued succes.
DDD Virtual Food Tour
In the Virtual Food Tour, we have visited researchers at the various institutions in the Negev. The researchers showed the audience how they are
generating knowledge and technologies to cope with the expected global food challenges. The video clips are accompanied by a discussion moderated by Prof. Simon Barak and Prof. Naftali Lazarovitch.
The Biotechnology Committee of the Chief Scientist in the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development
Prof. Moshe Sagi and Prof. Simon Barak
Title: Elucidating the role of sulfite in plants drought resistance.
Abstract:Our preliminary results indicate that sulfite, an intermediate of the sulfate reduction pathway to cysteine biosynthesis, plays a role in plant response to drought. Using Arabidopsis and tomato mutants overexpressing (OE) or impaired in sulfite oxidase (SO), sulfite reductase (SiR), and APS reductase (APR), we will show how the response of plants to transient drought is affected by modulation of the expression of major “sulfite network” factors. By generating SO OE, SO OE:APR KD and SiR:SO OE modified plants in Arabidopsis and tomato through the use of multiplexed CRISPR-Act 2 or a similar system, and determining the resistance to drought, we propose to obtain tomato plants with a better resistance to drought and make them available to farmers.
The project is approved by the Biotechnology Committee of the Chief Scientist in the Ministry of Agriculture in the amount of NIS 750,000 for three years, and Prof Simon Barak will help with the RNA sequencing analyses and transgenic plant production
Sol Leshin Program for Collaboration Project
Project: Zygophyllum dumosum endosphere microbiome and the potential role in stress tolerance
Collaborators: Ann M. Hirsch – (UCLA); Gideon Grafi (FAAB, BGU); Osnat Gillor (ZIWR, BGU)
Goal: The aim of this study is to assess the properties of the bacterial communities associated with the endosphere of Zygophyllum dumosum in the Negev Desert highlands. To this end, we will survey the bacterial community under the canopy, and in the leaves and petioles (the endosphere) of Z. dumosum along temporal scales. Concomitantly, we will generate a library of culturable bacterial strains isolated from the plant endosphere (this part of the work will be carried out by Ms. Jansirani Srinivasan, a student jointly studying in Gillor and Grafi’s labs) and rhizosphere compartments, characterize their properties, and assess their associated plant growth promotion. This collection of microbes could be used in future experiments to help understand the beneficial effects of these bacteria on plant growth and plant stress tolerance promotion, and for improving agricultural crop production in arid regions.
Project: Characterizing morphological and transcriptomic variation in floral plant signaling in arid habitats - Matthiola livida as a case study.
Goal: Leveraging field studies with headspace scent analysis and transcriptomic studies in Matthiola livida (Brassicaceae), native to the Negev, we will test whether arid-adapted species increase their investment in effective communication with pollinators in harsher conditions
Goldinger Trust Application: Jewish Fund for the Future, Jewish Federation of Delaware
Project Title: A genetic blueprint of plant survival in the desert: The genome of Anastatica heirochuntica (Rose of Jericho), a Negev Desert plant tolerant to multiple environmental stresses.
Principal Investigator: Prof. Simon Barak, FAAB
The rising incidence of environmental stresses such as drought, high salinity and extreme temperatures due to global climate change coupled with a rapidly increasing world population, is driving the demand for improved crop stress tolerance in order to ensure world food security. Furthermore, most new land with the potential for agriculture is situated in harsh environments such as arid regions. To identify genes that could confer toleran
ce to stress, we have been investigating the naturally stress-tolerant Negev Desert plant Anastatica hierochuntica. With the aid of previous Goldinger grants, we have shown that Anastatica is tolerant to multiple stresses, and we have built molecular tools to aid in identifying stress tolerance genes. However, the missing tool is the blueprint for desert survival - the Anastatica genome (the sequence of all the plant’s DNA including genes and promoters [the DNA that switches the genes on and off]). We will therefore sequence, assemble and compare the Anastatica genome with the genomes of other stress-sensitive and stress-tolerant species to identify genes that have been positively selected by evolution as genetic adaptations for the desert environment, and that could be used in the future to improve crop tolerance to environmental stresses.
Project Title: Development of the soil amendment bio-additive based on cyanobacterial polysaccharides for agriculture in arid regions.
Principal Investigators: Dr. Nina Kamennaya, Dr. Genadi Carmi, FAAB
Irrigation is essential for agriculture in Israel and accounts for > 50% of Israel’s water demand. One of the major factors in achieving the efficient use of irrigation water, as well as optimal plant growth, is the amount of the soil-retained water available to plants. The capacity of soil to retain water is affected by the fraction and the type of the soil’s organic matter content. Here we propose to study the utility of polysaccharides produced and exuded by cyanobacteria to mitigate the scarcity of bioavailable water in soil. Though cyanobacterial bio-fertilizers are marketed as a natural source of nitrogen and phosphorus, and macroalgal polysaccharide extracts are applied to improve water-holding soil capacity, the utility of cyanobacterial saccharides, which are more recalcitrant compared to macroalgal polymers, to mitigate the scarcity of bioavailable water in soil has not been studied. In soil crusts, owing to their highly hydrated nature, the extracellular polysaccharides allow cyanobacteria to withstand intermittent desiccation. Further, their structural complexity makes these polysaccharides recalcitrant to microbial degradation. By targeted isolation of cyanobacteria associated with copious polysaccharides and by further boosting of the polysaccharides’ production with CO2, we will obtain polysaccharide-rich organic matter to be tested as a soil amendment. Then the response of evapotranspiration, growth, and yield of a control plant, grown in a soil enrichment with the recalcitrant, highly hydrated polysaccharides, will be examined.
Project Title: A novel natural therapeutant for aquaculture from a microalgal by-product
Principal Investigators: Prof. Dina Zilberg, Prof. Inna Khozin-Goldberg, FAAB
Organophosphates, which have been widely applied for treatment of parasitic fish diseases in aquaculture, are no longer permitted, due to associated health hazards, leaving no treatment solution for a severe disease problem caused by microscopic parasitic worms (class monogenea). These worms attach to fish skin and gills, creating wounds and causing substantial losses due to fish mortality.
In a study carried out at our laboratories, an extract from a commercial microalga was found to be toxic to this worm. The extract is a “green” treatment, as it contains natural material (algae) and uses a non-toxic extraction protocol (using ethanol).
Further research revealed an effective therapeutic protocol for treatment of infected fish (using guppies as a model). The extract of the by-product obtained from the same microalga was effective against these monogenean parasites. Further research
is needed to optimize the extract application and to understand the mechanism of action.
Project Title: Developing probiotics to improve wheat tolerance to changing environments
Principal Investigators:Prof. Shimon Rachmilevitch, Dr. Vered Tzin, FAAB
Wheat has been consistently one of the world's major grain food sources for humans and animal diets, providing approximately 20% of their consumed calories. However, wheat production is limited by environmental stresses such as drought. Recent studies have shown that tolerance to environmental stresses is mediated by root-associated rhizobiome (the microorganism community consisting of mainly bacteria and fungi surrounding the roots). We hypothesize that the rhizobiome is different in wild and domesticated wheat genotypes and that specific rhizobiomes affect plant tolerance to drought. In this proposal, we aim to identify beneficial, drought-tolerance targeting microbes in the rhizobiome. To achieve this, we will exploit the rhizobiome community surrounding the root system of the wheat’s wild progenitor under different water regimes. Then, we will characterize and isolate specific bacterial species and re-inoculate them in sterilized soil to validate their beneficial function by measuring wheat germination and physiological status. This is a new collaborative project of two research labs with complementary expertise. A new Ph.D. student was recruited and she already generated preliminary results to support this project and ensure its success. The potential application of this project will provide the foundation for the commercialization of a “plant probiotics” product for improving food security.
Project Title:Selection of new ecotypes to enAble the increase of SaLicornia and Sarcocornia exporTs (SALT)
Principal Investigators: Prof. Moshe Sagi , FAAB
Rising demand for the halophytes (salt-loving) annual Salicornia and perennial Sarcocornia, known as sea asparagus vegetables, is driving the need for production area expansion, employing saline water that cannot be used for conventional agriculture. During the last five years, exports of Salicornia/Sarcocornia vegetables from the Dead Sea and Ramat HaNegev increased from 500 to 1000 tons annually, with an annual income of 20 million NIS to Israeli farmers. Currently, the farmers prefer growing Sarcocornia even though it exhibits inferior growth during the winter (when the demand is highest) because of its lower sensitivity to plant diseases than the currently available Salicornia varieties. We wish to explore and identify new high quality Salicornia/Sarcocornia varieties, with higher production capacity, faster growth during the winter, improved food quality, and better resistance to plant diseases to enable export enhancement. Field experiments will be conducted using Salicornia and Sarcocornia seeds collected from Israel’s Dead Sea and Mediterranean shores. The selected ecotypes/varieties will be evaluated in Ben-Gurion University facilities and the Ramat HaNegev Experimental Station. The expected agronomic outcome of the project is identification of the best growth conditions for the selected Salicornia/Sarcocornia varieties in order to produce crops with enhanced yield and high nutrient value.
EABA nomination of 2020 VIP fellows For The Algae Biomass Sector
The European Algae Biomass Association, together with the Steering Committee, Scientific and Industry Committees has decided to create a list of people who have made significant contributions to the algae biomass sector.
Those on this list are awarded VIP status within the EABA. This appointment is a clear recognition of their work in promoting the sector.
It also expresses gratitude from the community, whether academic, industrial, or institutional.
Prof. Sammy Bousssiba and Prof. Avigad Vonshak from the FAAB are on the list
Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Fellowship
Name: Dr. Alon Cna’ani
Institute: Department of Food Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Denmark
Topic: The aroma/flavor profiles of freekeh, a Mediterranean green durum wheat product, its market acceptability and utilization of its production methods for other Nordic-based cereals
Yehiel Admoni Award that promotes bringing life into the desert sponsored by the Marie and Alain Philippson Family of Belgium
Jingbo Zhen was selected as the recipient of the Yehiel Admoni Prize for the 2020-2021 academic year in the PhD student category.
ICA
Potential reclamation of saline and sodic soil in the Negev Desert of Israel
Dr. Gilboa Arye
In the late 1970s, the introduction and cultivation of various saline-tolerant crops with brackish water started in Israel’s Negev Desert. The results of our recent monitoring study (Rohit et al., 2019) at an olive plantation, located at Kibbutz Revivim, demonstrates the essential need for soil reclamation
The main objective of this study is to examine potential reclamation regimes for desert saline and sodic soils; considering the available irrigation water quality in these regions.
Maria Camalle joined Prof. Sagi’s lab to complete her master’s degree and started working on a joint Israel-Jordan MERC-funded project (TA-MOU-12-M32-004) to investigate the nutritional requirements of a salt-tolerant plant that can be
adapted for commercial cropping – Portulaca oleracea or purslane.
This nutritionally dense ‘superfood’ is well-known in the kitchen gardens of Europe as well being used as a salad vegetable by Bedouin communities in the Middle East. One issue with this plant is that, although it grows well under nitrate fertilization,
high levels of oxalic acid may accumulate in its leaves. Ammonium nutrition, on the other hand, leads to low oxalic acid levels but significantly decreased yield. Added to this is that under saline conditions nitrate uptake is limited and ammonium
feeding results in poor leaf quality. Maria addressed this problem by elucidating the salt tolerance mechanism and ammonium affinity of two purslane ecotypes grown under different nitrate:ammonium ratios.
Her study shed light on the mechanisms that one ecotype uses to tolerate salinity and high levels of ammonium, with a reduction in oxalic acid, while maintaining high biomass. The Jordanian project partners used her findings in field scale experiments
and showed that the nutritional recommendations and ecotype selection produced higher biomass crops of better quality than the local varieties.
Maria, supported by PhD student Aigerim Soltabayeva and Dr Dominic Standing, summarized her year’s research in her thesis and the following paper: Agronomy2020, 10(5), 656;
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