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Adapted
from DPI News, Department
of Primary Industries, http://www.dpi.qld.gov.au/news/NewsReleases/8585.html Dr Tony Whiley- DPI’S most prominent avocado and mango researcher
retires
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Dr. Whiley relaxing
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The Department of Primary Industries researcher credited with developing the latest mango taste sensation, the B74, Dr Tony Whiley has retired after 34 years with the Department.
Dr Whiley started work with DPI in 1969 at the Maroochy Research Station, Nambour where he has continued to work for over three decades and most recently for the DPI’s Agency for Food and Fibre Sciences.
He collaborated with noted horticulture industry
researchers Jack Saranah, Ken Pegg
and Bob Colbran and successfully developed standards
for growing ginger that are used to this day.
Tony was also instrumental in variety development work and one of those
introduced cultivars,
Dr Whiley worked briefly in the citrus industry before turning his attention to avocado and mango. Together with Ken Pegg, Jack Saranah and Peter Langdon, Dr Whiley has been endorsed as virtually saving the Australian avocado industry by developing appropriate and highly effective control strategies for Phytophthora, a debilitating root rot.
He also worked tirelessly to improve tree management strategies for production of good yields of high quality fruit. Tony's understanding of tree crop physiology/agronomy and his in-depth knowledge of the phenological cycle in these crops are recognized around the world.
Dr Whiley is widely recognized as a world authority in these research areas and has made significant contributions to the scientific literature while also benefiting commercial producers. The pinnacle of his career was the release of the world book “The Avocado” for which he is co-editor and major author (http://www.cabi-publishing.org/Bookshop/book_detail.asp?ISBN=0851993575).
Tony's work with mango
breeding (B74) and development of avocado rootstocks are continuing and
demonstrate his life-long commitment to science and crop improvement in these
fruits. He has just retired from the
DPI, marking a career spanning some 34 years, but is not lost to
Further information contact: John Chapman 07 5444 9600
Media Officer: Mark Dawson 07 5430 4951, mobile 0407 756 859
Department
of Primary Industries Media Unit
Ph 07 5430 4911
Fax 07 5430 4994