+27 76 600 4183
info@1stfruits.co.za
Join us
Find us
Follow Us
Firstfruits

Tag: HLB

25 May 2021
HLB
0 Comments By Firstfruits Consulting Website Articles, News , , ,

CRISPR/Cas technology could enable early diagnosis of devastating citrus disease

Scientists from Penn State and the U.S. Department of Agriculture have developed a diagnostic test that enables early detection of Huanglongbing (HLB) by detecting the presence of the bacterium that causes the disease, i.e. Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus (CLas). Early detection of CLas is vital in controlling the spread of HLB because trees that have been infected by CLas can serve as a disease reservoir for years before symptoms are visible.

READ MORE

28 Apr 2021
Trapping 2021
0 Comments By Firstfruits Consulting Website Articles, News ,

Trapping for Asian Citrus Psyllid in Southern Africa: Feb / Mar 2021

The article describes how the presence of the Asian Citrus Psyllid (ACP), Diaphorina citri Kuwayama (Hemiptera: Liviidae), in parts of Africa, most recently trapped in southwestern Tanzania and Kenya, is increasing the risk to citriculture in Southern Africa. ACP is an effective vector of Huanglongbing (HLB), which is a destructive citrus greening disease and is associated with the gram negative α-Proteobacteria Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus (Las).

READ MORE

05 Dec 2020
Orange Fields
0 Comments By Firstfruits Consulting Website Articles , , ,

Understanding disease-induced microbial shifts may reveal new crop management strategies.

Researchers at the University of California studied the role of the tree’s microbiome in the progression of citrus greening disease. They used amplicon technology to study the microbiome during the progression of HLB, and found that harmful microbes increased, while beneficial microbes decreased during the disease progression.

READ MORE

05 Dec 2020
Cover Crops
0 Comments By Firstfruits Consulting Website Articles , , ,

Cover crops for citrus

Cover crops are specific crops not intended for sale but for soil improvement and sustainability. They are increasingly common in the agricultural fields of the Midwest and other grain-producing regions because of the wide range of benefits not just for the soil, but also the cash crop. In those systems, cover crops improve water and nutrient retention, promote microbial activity, reduce weed growth and insect pests, and improve plant growth. Similar impacts have been found in tree crops like apples and peaches, where cover crops are planted in row middles.

READ MORE

29 Jul 2020
Citrus Green
0 Comments By Firstfruits Consulting Website Articles , ,

Solution found to Citrus Greening Disease

University of California finds substance capable of controlling devastating citrus disease

Scientists at the University of California, Riverside (UCR) have found the first substance capable of controlling Citrus Greening Disease, which has devastated citrus farms in Florida and also threatens California.

The University of Florida has also been working towards a solution, as reported in March 2020.

READ MORE

29 Jun 2020
Citrus Rehabilitation from HLB
0 Comments By Firstfruits Consulting Website Articles , , , , , ,

Rehabilitation of HLB infected citrus trees using severe pruning and nutritional sprays.

Citrus trees infected with Huanglongbing (HLB) bacteria become weak and develop dieback, resulting in lost production. These trees eventually decline to a production level that is not economical to maintain in a citrus operation. Sixteen-year-old ‘Valencia’ (Citrus sinensis Macf.) orange trees on Swingle citrumelo rootstock [C. paradisi × Poncirus trifoliata (L.) Raf.], 100% infected with HLB, in decline and losing production, were severely pruned (buckhorned) to stimulate regrowth and the new flush treated with foliar nutritional sprays. Nutritional sprays included the “Boyd cocktail” and two other nutrient treatments that contained phosphites plus nickel and cobalt. Heavily pruned trees and unpruned standard control trees were compared for shoot growth and canopy development.

READ MORE

29 Jun 2020
Cover Crops
0 Comments By Firstfruits Consulting Website News , , , , , , , , ,

Can cover crops save Florida’s citrus?

Citrus greening has devastated the Sunshine State’s orange industry. Researchers and pioneering farmers see cover crops as a road to recovery.

For the last couple of decades, a tiny insect called the Asian citrus psyllid has fed on the stems and leaves of the orange trees in Florida, infecting them with bacteria that cause a lethal disease called citrus greening. The bacterial disease, huanglongbing (HLB), originated in China and has destroyed 90 percent of the state’s groves, devastating its $9 billion citrus industry.

READ MORE

26 May 2020
Distribution of Liberibacter
0 Comments By Firstfruits Consulting Website News , ,

HLB now in Kenya: Preparations to mitigate its impact on the Southern African citrus industry.

The presence of Diaphorina citri (Asian citrus psyllid, or ACP), the primary vector of the dreaded Huanglongbing disease (HLB, or Asian Citrus Greening), was first reported in east Africa in Tanzania (2015) and Kenya (2016). Surveys that CRI conducted in collaboration with local scientists, confirmed the presence of ACP in the eastern regions of Tanzania. Recently HLB, previously known to occur in some parts of Ethiopia, was detected on the east coast of Kenya (Fig. 1). The recent detection of HLB in Kenya brings it considerably closer to citrus production in Southern Africa. CRI has engaged in a process with Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development (DALRRD) to encourage Kenyan partners to scope the possibility of containing and eradicating the disease in the region.

READ MORE