Israel Prize for Agriculture and Environmental Sciences to Prof. Yaakov Katan who developed a pest control system with the help of solar energy

The winner of the Israel Prize in the field of agricultural research and environmental science research was given to Prof. Yaakov Katan from the Faculty of Agriculture at the Hebrew University

The Minister of Education, Shai Piron, announced the winner of the Israel Prize in the field of agricultural research and environmental science research for the year 2017 - Prof. Yaakov Katan and congratulated him. The Minister of Education approved the recommendation of the prize committee headed by Prof. Gideon Dagan.

In the committee's reasoning, its members stated that: "Prof. Ketan was chosen for his scientific achievements in the field of soil diseases and consequences for plant diseases. Prof. Ketan invented and developed a unique method for disinfecting soil called solar disinfection without chemical means. For his contribution to the scientific community in basic and applied research. His research and achievements are applied to Not only in Israel, but also in the countries of the world, including Arab countries."

Prof. Gideon Dagan served as the chairman of the award committee, and beside him were the members of the committee - Prof. Yonatan Gersel and Prof. Zakaria Medar.

Prof. Ketan was born in Iraq in 1936 and immigrated to Israel in 1951 and joined Mikve Israel Agricultural School.

He acquired his academic education (qualified degree and doctorate) at the Hebrew University, at the Faculty of Agriculture in Rehovot. After his return from training at the University of Michigan, he was appointed a lecturer (in 1969), senior lecturer (1972), associate professor (1976) and full professor (1979) at the same institution. He was in training at the University of Liverpool and on sabbatical in the United States at the University of Wisconsin, the Agricultural Research Institute in Beltsville, and the University of Minnesota.

Prof. Ketan served as head of the department of plant diseases and microbiology in 1986-9 and again in 2001/2. as the head of the plant protection department (1973-5) and more.

"In his curriculum vitae attached to the press release of the Ministry of Education, Prof. Katan specifies: "I am a researcher of plant diseases (phytopathology) and my main field of expertise is related to the study of root diseases caused by soilborne pathogens, with an emphasis on the development of environmentally friendly pest control measures I am researching, together with my students and colleagues, various aspects of the biology of this group of disease agents: ecology, Interaction with microorganisms and pesticides, genetics, interaction with plants, biological pest control, etc. Since the 70s, I have been focusing especially on the development of the solar disinfection method to control soil pests, by using solar energy as a substitute for pesticides that are harmful to the environment. This method was first developed in Israel by our group (first publication in 1976) and research on it has spread to more than 70 countries: the United States, the Middle East, Southern Europe, the Far East (especially India), Australia and Central and South America and more."

"In addition to Israel, this method has been well established in countries such as Jordan, Iraq, Morocco, Turkey, Italy, Greece, the United States and Mexico. Our laboratory is the leader in the world in this research. We investigated, with the participation of research students and colleagues from many research fields, basic, applied, technological aspects and economic aspects of the use of this method. In particular, the microbial, chemical and physical changes occurring in the soil following the solar disinfection were studied as well The environmental consequences of its use. This is, for now, the only method of soil disinfection that is applied on a large scale around the world. We have published more than 80 scientific publications on this subject (articles in peer-reviewed international journals) and I have edited together with Prof. J. DeVay the first major book on this topic (1991). A second book on this topic co-edited with Prof. A. Gamliel was published in 2012. I aim to combine basic research with dedicated applied research. My research is funded by research grants from Israel and competitive international funds. A joint research project with Egyptian colleagues (at the invitation of the Egyptian Minister of Agriculture) on this subject began in 1981 and research relations continued until recently. Scientific articles shared by us and Egyptian researchers were published in the international scientific journals, in which the results of our joint research were presented."

"My research also discusses other topics, beyond solar disinfection, which are related to root diseases and environmental aspects: the behavior of pesticides in the soil and their interaction with microorganisms, ecology and genetics of pathogens, participation in the cultivation of disease-resistant plant varieties, and more."