KSU professor wins highest award for date palm research

(Photo courtesy: King Saud University)

RIYADH: Dr. Binu Antony, assistant professor of date palm research at King Saud University (KSU), won the Khalifa International Award for Date Palm and Agricultural Innovation worth 1 million Emirati dirhams ($272,257).
Dr. Antony received the award in recognition of his research work on the red palm weevil, a global palm and date palm tree pest. “It lays eggs in the tree,” says Binu. “When the larvae come out, it feeds on the trunk. As a result, the tree will die within a year (the annual losses run to $8 million in the Kingdom).
Apart from the larvae, when adult weevils attack a tree, they emit a pheromone. “This can attract the other weevils in the area,” says Dr. Antony. “Soon, there will be a mass attack.” Through his research, Binu was able to identify a gene which is used for smelling (olfaction) located in the antennae. Dr. Antony, along with his team, came up with a method to knock it down, so that the insects cannot smell the pheromones. In this way, a mass attack is avoided.
For this five-year research, King Abdul Aziz City for Science and Technology-National Plan for Science and Technology (KACST-NPST) provided Dr. Antony with a grant (SR2 million) to set up a laboratory, which has become a center of excellence at the university, attracting many students from all over the world.
During his tenure at KSU, Dr. Antony acquired two major research grants worth SR4 million for the study on insect pheromones and olfaction. He has won nine fellowships, with the latest in May, being awarded by the Royal Entomological Society of London. Binu has also published more than 25 papers in scientific publications and regularly takes part in international seminars.
The Khalifa International Award For Date Palm And Agricultural Innovation was established under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, president of the UAE. Dr. Antony received the Khalifa International Award for Date Palm and Agricultural Innovation from Sheikh Nahayan Mabarak Al-Nahayan, Minister of Culture and Knowledge Development of the United Arab Emirates.