פרופ' רפאל שטרן

Fields of research: • Studying the pollination and fertilization processes in deciduous (pear, apple, plum, apricot) and subtropical (avocado, lychee) fruit trees. • Development of techniques for chemical thinning of deciduous trees to reduce hand-thinning costs. • Development of innovative techniques to increase fruit size of deciduous trees in order to improve profitability • Studying the fruit-cracking disorder in 'Pink Lady' apples and development of new techniques for reducing cracking. • Studying the relationship between vegetative: fruiting balance • Identification of the best rootstocks for growing apples and pears in the warm climate of Israel.