WVU professor develops tomatoes resistant to fungus, blight
(AP) — Mannon Gallegly, West Virginia University professor emeritus of plant pathology, has made it his mission to develop a disease-free tomato.
In conjunction with the 150th anniversary of the university and its first academic unit, the Davis College of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Design, Gallegly and his research partner, Mahfuz Rahman, released two new varieties of tomato last month.
The Iron Lady tomato, developed by Martha Mutschler-Chu of Cornell University, also resists late blight but also Septoria lycopersici, a fungus that causes spotting on leaves.
Gallegly officially retired from the University in 1986 but earned emeritus status and kept a presence at the college to continue research and teaching.
The college mailed 150 seed packets of both varieties to interested farmers and growers who wanted to provide feedback.