Current projects
Precision Viticulture in the Zippori River Basin: Minimizing Herbicide Use through Remote Sensing and Decision Support Systems (In collaboration with Dr. Ran Lati and Prof. Anna Brook)
Herbicide use in vineyards can affect soil structure and health, contaminate water sources, and potentially compromise the ecological restoration efforts in the Zippori River Basin. This research aims to evaluate how varying weed cover levels—from complete suppression to full ground cover—impact vine productivity and herbicide runoff. By integrating physiological measurements, remote sensing, and herbicide analysis, we aim to develop a weed management strategy that better balances agricultural productivity and environmental preservation.
Effect of weed Management Protocols in Almond Orchards on Herbicide Persistence in Soil and Weed Distribution (In collaboration with Dr. Ran Lati)
This study aims to improve understanding of sustainable weed management strategies that may enhance herbicide degradation while maintaining soil health and agricultural productivity. The study focuses on the degradation of herbicides in almond orchards and the role of Integrated Weed Management (IWM) practices, such as cover crops, in influencing this process. We investigate how IWM practices impact microbial activity, organic matter content, weed seed bank and the persistence of herbicide in soil.
Strigolactones Transport in Soil
Strigolactones (SL) a group of secondary plant metabolites that are. Strigolactones are exuded by roots to soil and used as a chemical cue for seed germination of root parasitic plants, including the noxious parasitic weeds of the Orobanchaceae family (e.g. Striga, Orobanche and Phelipanche spp.). In this project we aim to enhance the knowledge on the fate, and specifically the transport distance of SLs in soil, by using parasitic-weed seed germination as an indicator for strigolactones presence in soil and utilizing solute transport modeling tools to study its fate under different scenarios.
Optimizing Herbicide Application Through Drip-Irrigation for Management of (Phelipanche Aegyptiaca in Processing Tomatoes
Phelipanche aegyptiaca (i.e. Egyptian broomrape) is a root-parasitic weed with a wide range of hosts. Egyptian broomrape causes severe damages and yield loss to many crops, including processing tomatoes. In this project we aim to improve the control of this noxious weed, scanning for candidate herbicides and optimizing its application to soil through the drip-irrigation system by thoroughly investigating the distribution of the herbicides in soil, the effect of soil properties and environmental conditions and the subsequent control efficacy.
