User:Sanakarbor/sandbox

Biography
Mohammad Akbari (born May 04, 1985) is an Iranian plant breeder and agriculture scientist. He is the first Iranian plant breeder, has ever introduced a plant species (a pistachio rootstock named Arota) in American Society for horticultural sciences (ASHS) form Iran Mohammad introduced Arota, in 2020. Arota is the main output of his breeding programs cooperating with NBG company in Iran; which is a new Persian interspecific hybrid (Pistacia integerrima ♂ * Pistacia atlantica ♀) pistachio rootstock selected from a progeny of 222 controlled crosses made in 2013 and 2014. Arota is the first Iranian pistachio rootstock has ever been introduced and is the second hybrid pistachio rootstock introduced in the world after UCB1.

Education
Mohammad holds a PhD on "Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology of horticultural crops" from University of Tabriz collaborating with Florida A&M University (FAMU) and Florida State University (FSU). He has been working on pistachio genotypes since 2009 and has done research on pistachio male and female genotypes. His breeding programs on pistachio, started on 2013 focusing on producing pistachio rootstocks able to tolerate acceptable amount of salinity and drought stress. During his PhD theses, he investigated the mechanisms behind salinity tolerance in pistachio rootstocks and published his findings in Protoplasma and Biomolecules journals.

Career
Mohammad started his career as an advisor to deputy minister of agriculture in the horticulture sector in 2018. He supervised Pistachio Group at Ministry of Agriculture for two years and monitored pistachio cultivation in Iran. During his work at Ministry of Agriculture he promoted pistachio cultivation in 10 new provinces in Iran. His area of research is focused on pistachio rootstock and scion breeding.

Honours, decorations, awards and distinctions

 * 1) 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, Talented Student, by University of Tabriz.
 * 2) 2017, superb mentor, by University of Florida A&M.
 * 3) 2018, 2019, Eminent pistachio expert, Iran's Ministry of Agriculture.