Outmane Bouhlal

Dr. Outmane Bouhlal is a Senior Research Assistant in Food Legume Breeding at ICARDA, working to develop improved varieties with enhanced productivity, resilience, and nutritional value under increasing climate variability and environmental stress. His research focuses on integrating conventional breeding with molecular genetics and advanced phenotyping to accelerate the development of climate-resilient grain legumes adapted to dryland agroecosystems.

He contributes to multidisciplinary research and capacity-building initiatives across North Africa and other dry regions, collaborating with partners in Morocco, Lebanon, India, Nepal, Bangladesh, and other countries. His work emphasizes the genetic improvement of strategic legumes, including lentil, faba bean, grass pea (Lathyrus), and chickpea, addressing key challenges such as drought tolerance, disease resistance, and food and feed security.

Dr. Bouhlal holds a Ph.D. in Plant Breeding and Genetics and a Master's degree in Biotechnology from Chouaib Doukkali University in El Jadida, Morocco. He has authored and co-authored several scientific publications on food legume breeding, genomics, and crop improvement for climate-resilient dryland agriculture.