Westfalia Technological Services (WTS)
World Leaders in avocado research
Westfalia Technological Services (WTS) is the research division of Westfalia Fruit Estates founded on Dr Hans Merensky’s principle of “research, experimentation and demonstration through the correlation and application of scientific knowledge”. We continue to operate on this guiding principle and are focussed on applied avocado research, projects on mangoes, macadamias and litchis.
We have six specialised teams that focus on:
- Intellectual property: select, acquire and protect plant material.
- Quality assurance: monitor fruit quality in-field and post-harvest, and determine optimum storage protocols.
- Genetic resources: breed and obtain high-potential fruiting and rootstock material.
- Horticulture: evaluate new fruiting and rootstocks cultivars up to the semi-commercial stage, optimise productivity, seasonality and predictability of fruit quality (e.g. using near-infrared spectroscopy), and conduct postharvest trials.
- Pathology: provide an early warning of potential disease outbreaks; decrease disease incidence; decrease fungicide use.
- Market access: act on behalf of the Subtropical Fruit Growers Association to mitigate risks and monitor pest levels, and interact with officials to facilitate wider market access.
Westfalia Technological Services Products
Avocado products
Dusa®
We are world-renowned for the development of the Dusa® rootstock from our avocado rootstock programme. Avocado trees are very sensitive to Phytophthora root rot and saline soils. Dusa offers improved tolerance to these conditions.
Hass-Carmen® and Gem®
We manage these two exciting new avocado fruiting cultivars in grower clubs. Hass-Carmen® is an early maturing Hass look-alike and Gem® is a late-maturing black-skin avocado. These two cultivars enable Westfalia to reach a twelve-month supply of high-quality avocados produced within South Africa.
Mango products
Honey Gold®, Princess® and Shelly®
We offer three mango grower clubs for the cultivars Honey Gold®, Princess® and Shelly®. These three cultivars provide Westfalia-linked growers with superior genetic material that allows us to supply customers with high-quality mangoes for an extended period.
Organic Fungicide
Westfalia Biocoat®
This is an organic postharvest fungicide that was developed by us for the use in growing avocados and mangoes. It is also suitable for other horticultural crops.
To find out more about Westfalia Technological Services' products and research, and to interact with the staff, please click here.
