Department of Plant Science hosts Melia Project workshop

The Department of Plant Science and Crop Protection successfully hosted the Melia Project workshop.  The workshop is one of the programmes under the VLIR Team initiative “Synergy for mass propagation of elite Melia volkensii clones and exploiting its derived bio-pesticides”.

During the workshop, Prof Rose Nyikal, the CAVS acting Principal, welcomed the partners and assured them that the University is devoted towards supporting partnerships between other universities especially on matters that are to generate innovative responses to global and local challenges.

The project is headed by Prof. Stefaan Werbrouck and Prof. Guy Smagghe from the University of Ghent in Belgium. Local partners in the project are; Dr Titus Magomere from Kenyatta University, Prof. Florence Olubayo from the University of Nairobi; Dr Jackson Mulatya from Kenya Forestry Research Institute and Mr Jan Vandenabeele from Better Globe Forestry LMT.

Researches in this programme focus on micro-propagation, acclimatization of elite clones and utilization of the insecticidal extract of leaves and fruits. It is implemented by the University of Nairobi, University of Ghent, Kenya Forestry Research Institute and Better Globe Forestry LMT.

In this project, the capacity of the University’s in-vitro and entomology laboratories will be improved since the partnership places significant concern in knowledge transfer and sharing of information related to in-vitro and bio-pesticide research. Additionally, in the second phase, the programme will train two PhD and 4 master’s students.