Fasih Khalid came to CREC from Pakistan for a six-month program to work as a horticulturist focused on stress physiology. He also wanted to learn about physiological techniques and how to use different instruments. In Pakistan, he spent time working on abiotic stresses like water deficits and salinity. In our lab, he worked on experiments dealing with sap flow and hydraulic conductance. He said with the results the lab can determine whether “the sap flow movement is OK in relation to the regular irrigation.” Because of rising prevalence of water deficit problems in the world, it is important to see how irrigation levels in plants can be adjusted to save water and lead to more efficient water practices in the future.
Fasih loves research and learning. After his Master’s he spent about a month working in a farmer’s co-op in Pakistan, which he didn’t enjoy. As soon as an opportunity presented itself, he entered his PhD. He had done research on lychee in his Master’s and had published it, so he decided to go back to school and into the research field. After a couple of months in his PhD, he decided “…there is nothing in the world for me except research. I have to be researching.” He initially was interested in horticulture after going through his required two years of studying it in Pakistan. He thought he wanted to work in floriculture and landscaping but ultimately found pomology to be the most engaging because there are many different opportunities in that field. Plus, “The good thing of fruit is you can research or if you don’t want to research you can eat.”
During his time at CREC, he was also able to participate in several competitions, most of which were academic, though one was a t-shirt design contest for CREC, which he won! The academic competitions allowed Fasih to share the work he did at CREC, as well as help him improve his English. He liked to share that his work is important because it helps growers understand how to adapt to a world with climate change. He believes it is important for all people, not just growers, to care about changing water conditions and how this affects plants because “…we have to save water for the world and for the plants, for the next [plants].” If growers are unable to find solutions for their plants in water scarce conditions, this will cause further problems for the world as demand for fresh water reserves increases, eventually affecting our food supply, which would affect us all. He wants to take the things he’s learned during his time here back to Pakistan. His two big takeaways were time efficiency and the benefits of using hydraulics instrumentation for research. He hopes to apply these lessons as he continues horticulture research in the future.
Citrus Tree Physiology Lab 