Novel multi-metal systemic bactericide for HLB control

Novel multi-metal systemic bactericide for HLB control

Report Date: 03/04/2021
Project: 18-020   Year: 2021
Category: Other
Author: Swadeshmukul Santra
Sponsor: Citrus Research and Development Foundation

Five multi-metal bactericides containing Cu as minor component, Cu-Mg (MM25C75M), Cu-Zn (MM25C75Z), Cu-ZnO (MM20C80Z), Cu-ZnS (MM17C83Z), Cu-Mg-Zn (MM17C17Mg66Zn) and four respective controls without Cu (i.e. coated Mg, Zn, ZnO, ZnS) were included 2020 field trial. 8 year-old ‘Ray Ruby’ grapefruit block with windbreaks consisting of approx. 25 ft. tall Corymbia torelliana was was selected in Vero Beach area.  Foliar application rate included one gallon per tree (equivalent to 145 trees per acre, a total of eight foliar applications) starting June 1 and ending October 26, 2020. Early spring applications were missed because of COVID-19 work restrictions preventing delivery of materials. Disease evaluation assessed the incidence of fruit with canker lesions for 100 fruit per treatment from the middle 3 trees in each plot.  Melanose and scab were also assessed at time of canker rating. Any phytotoxicity (peel burn) was noted and recorded at harvest.  Yield was measured as lbs fruit per tree for the middle 3 trees in each plot.  A subset of fruit from each plot was sized and tested for juice quality at the CREC packing house/pilot plant facility. No monthly rainfall was detected in March 2020 when initial infection of the spring leaf flush would be expected.  Monthly rainfall was about average from April to June and then dropped well below average from July through September. The lack of rainfall during the spring flush probably reduced inoculum buildup in the leaves and early fruit infection.   Despite the low rainfall early in the season, the incidence of fruit canker lesions increased slightly to 12.4% from 8.2% the previous year in the UTC. All experimental treatments performed well and comparable to the standard Cu, Kocide 3000.  Although not significant, there was an apparent dose effect of ZnO with the lower rate having the highest incidence of canker other than the UTC.  Most products performed numerically better than Kocide 3000, but this could be due to rate differences as the only product tested at multiple rates showed a rate response trend. COVID-19 prevented early season treatments, so the full effect of the products on yield cannot be determined; however there was a significant retention of fruit compared to the UTC resulting in higher yields. The largest effect on yield this season was canker management.  The lack of a significant yield difference between bactericidal products prevents direct inference about HLB efficacy; however, Kocide 3000 had one of the lowest yields of the bactericides, suggesting that some of the others may have some efficacy for HLB and improvements may require a couple years to become significant. No significant differences were found in internal fruit quality based on brix-acid ratio or total soluble solids. Insufficient scab and melanose were observed to collect useful data this year.  Fruit size and juice quality data are being analyzed and will be reported in future report.     


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