Iranian Scientists Make Plant-Growing Medium with Date Waste

“Our researchers have been able to create a plant-growing medium using date waste, which is discarded and has a very large volume to return the waste to the production cycle with this method,” Behnam Safavi, the head of the Medicinal Plants Innovation Center of the Islamic Azad University’s Isfahan Branch, told ANA.

“The growing medium produced by our company is very rich because it uses plant waste and does not require any fertilizer for plant growth,” he added.

Safavi explained that usually a separate growing medium should be prepared to maintain the plants, noting, “By using this growing medium, we no longer need a separate medium.”

“When a plant is transferred from one environment to another, its growing medium should be changed but with the growing medium produced by our company, we do not need to change the growing medium,” he added.

“Among the advantages of the growing medium produced by our company we can mention the fact that it contains nutrients, does not contain chemical pollution, and provides a suitable medium for plant maintenance,” Safavi concluded.

In a relevant development in February, the president of Islamic Azad University’s Hajiabad branch said that a technological unit in the University had managed to produce oil from date kernels without heat and chemicals.

“The method used to extract oil from date kernels by this technological unit is without heat and chemicals and the product enjoys high quality and has medicinal and edible uses,” Nasser Shahsavari told ANA.

Noting that 12% oil can be extracted from date kernels, he said, “Since 98% of the country's dates are produced in the Southern parts of the country, the product and raw materials are available, and no initial cost is spent to prepare date kernels.”

“The oil extracted from dates for cosmetic use is expensive but with the production of this oil, imports are prevented and we can even export it,” Shahsavari said.

“Oil extraction from date kernels is traditionally carried out with heat which destroys useful substances and reduces its quality but this technological unit now produces the oil without heat and chemicals by using a special device,” he explained.

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