Special Interests and Achievments
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Basic genetics and physiology studies of the spontaneous mutations of ripening inhibitor genes in tomatoes and the consequent exploitation of the knowledge resulted in the original development of long shelf-life tomatoes, thus revolutionizing the fresh market industry.
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Basic physiology studies of shallot resulted in the consequent exploitation of the knowledge for the original breeding and development of seed propagated hybrid short-day shallots, thus eliminating biotic factors transmitted continuously by the vegetative propagules, and doubling the yields.
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Basic physiology of flowering in Allium, with special emphasis on garlic, resulted in the consequent restoration of fertility and production of viable seeds.
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Basic biochemistry and physiology on the defense mechanisms against oxygen-free radicals in green plant tissues resulted in the consequent determination of cross-protection mechanism in algae and higher plants.
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Plant genetic resources, with special emphasis on short-day vegetatively propagated Alliums. Curator of the International Field Gene Bank for short-day vegetatively propagated Alliums.
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Crop improvement in, and for tropical and subtropical conditions, including:
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initiation and successful implantation of in situ projects for increase in yields of short-day onions (Thailand, Sri-Lanka, Egypt, Kenya and other East Africa countries) and tomatoes (Thailand);
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improved tolerance to biotic stress (white rot, fusarium and pink-root in onions – Egypt, bacterial wilt in tomatoes - Thailand);
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30 years of organizing and teaching in training courses to a total of more than 1,000 experts from developing countries in: Physiology of Vegetable Crops Under Hot and Humid conditions, and Breeding for Warm Climate Production, in both Israel (Faculty of Agricultural, Food and Environmental Quality Sciences, Rehovot) and Holland (International Agricultural Center, Wageningen), and transfer of knowledge through local workshops (e.g., The 1st Eastern Africa Regional Allium Workshop, #4 in the list of publications).