Funding for this project was received in December 2018. The treatment blocks were flagged in both groves. Dataloggers and soil moisture probes were purchased and installed in both locations and are currently recording soil moisture every hour. In each grove, 30 minirhizotron tubes were installed 2 ft from the trunk and 1.5 ft into the soil. These will be used to monitor root growth in the cover crop treatments and assess the impact of the treatments on root health and development. Soil and leaf samples were collected to determine pretreatment tree and soil nutrient concentrations and microbial community composition. Pretreatment assessments of total weed coverage and weed density by type and species were also made. Canopy size measurements were made to determine preliminary trees size characteristics. The first draft of a grove management survey has been prepared. Preparation is underway for the winter/spring cover crop mix to be planted in the next two weeks. Postdoctoral and graduate student candidates have been identified, and interviews are being conducted. Data collection will continue in the next quarter to capture fruit yield and other variables on the project.
The goal of this project is to develop a quarantine or phytosanitary treatment of navel oranges shipped to Australia or New Zealand that will assure control of adult bean thrips that can be found in the navels, particularly when the weather is cool. Our research of the past couple years has demonstrated excellent control of bean thrips in the navels of navel oranges by fumigation with Vapormate. Vapormate is manufactured by The Linde Group and is a formulation of ethyl formate with carbon dioxide. A heated regulator is required to dispense the fumigant into the treatment chamber. In 2010, we conducted a simulation of a commercial fumigation in a 20′ marine container. Navel oranges were washed and waxed and packed into export boxes. Eight pallets of these oranges were loaded into the container. A percentage of the oranges scattered throughout the load were infested with bean thrips for a total of >1,000 bean thrips. The fruit were cooled overnight to 41F using the refrigeration unit of the container to drive the thrips deep into the navels. The following day, Vapormate was injected into the container using a heated regulator to reach a 1% ethyl formate concentration. After 1 hour, the container was vented and the pallets removed. Thrips mortality was determined the following day by close examination of each infested orange. The oranges were sliced at several depths through the navel to find the thrips. Mortality was 100%. Additional tests were conducted with a smaller fumigation chamber. These tests included nearly 6,000 bean thrips and 100% mortality was also achieved. Navel orange tolerance to Vapormate fumigation has also been tested several times. The tolerance of waxed fruit to Vapormate doses twice the concentration needed for thrips control has been good, even after 5 weeks of cold storage and simulated retail handling. We evaluated fruit firmness, peel condition, decay, soluble solids and titratable acidity and fermentative volatile levels. There were few significant and no consistent differences among the treatments. In 2010 we also began developing a dose response curve for adult bean thrips to ethyl formate. Work on this dataset will continue in 2011. This data will be used to predict the dose required for Probit 9 quarantine control.
Much of our activity on this project over the last quarter has focused on bean thrips. The active ingredients in both Evergreen’ and Turbocide GOLD’ with Pyrocide’ (hereafter “Turbocide”) are a mixture of various pyrethrins along with the synergist piperonyl butoxide. We received an email that continued registration of these products was at risk without additional residue data that might be gathered by IR-4 if such a request received prioritization for IR-4 work. After a 10-7-10 conference call on this subject with CCQC, Beth Grafton-Cardwell submitted such a request for the pre-harvest uses of Evergreen and Morse submitted a similar request to maintain the use of both products for post-harvest treatments. Over the last several months, we have communicated with Becky Sisko of IR-4 and the company producing the products (MKG Co.) on the protocol for such tests. It appears that IR-4 will proceed on tests with both products intended to maintain their registration on “minor crops” such as citrus. A series of 6 packinghouse trials we have run resulted in MGK Co. submitting a Special Local Needs request allowing use of a 5 g/ 1,000 cubic foot rate of Turbocide. Based on trial data, especially data from a 21 June 2010 trial, the SLN specified two constraints on the use of this higher rate important to achieving good efficacy: (1) the degreening room should be filled to more than 75% of full capacity (so that bin stacks could be spaced out some) and (2) the room should be warmed to 65’F and allowed to reach thermal equilibrium from ceiling to floor. The SLN was approved 17 January 2011 allowing CA packinghouses to use this product. We ran a large packinghouse trial in Orange Cove on 18-19 January 2011 comparing the SLN rate of Turbocide to a new method of applying Evergreen, i.e. using a large fan similar to that used on the sidelines during football games to cool the players and with the Evergreen pumped slowing to squirt in front of the fan so that it is distributed over the stack of bins in the packinghouse. A major problem in the performance of both products was that it was quite cold and the fruit were not warmed to the degree they should have been before treatments were applied (51-52’F in the Evergreen room, 51-57 in the Turbocide room). Poor Turbocide performance emphasizes the need for the room to be warmer. The results with Evergreen were encouraging, even with the cold room temperature. We were notified by CCQC and others that there have been problems with Fuller rose beetle (FRB) eggs appearing in shipments of CA citrus sent to Korea. Because we do not have funding for FRB research, some work on this insect is done under this project. Working with CCQC, an industry meeting is planned for Mar. 2 in Tulare and a separate meeting at the LA port on Mar. 9 with representatives of USDA-APHIS and others. Research is also continuing addressing the management of citrus thrips.
Our new project is designed to establish replicated trials at 5 locations to systematically evaluate the most promising new imported scion cultivars in conjunction with breeding program trials at locations that represent the major CA citrus production zone. This project was funded as an off-cycle project in May 2010 with an approved no cost extension for the 2010-2011 season. The trials will have sufficient replication (18 trees per location, five locations) using a split-plot design to make it possible to estimate yields and measure fruit quality traits with a reasonable degree of accuracy. Promising imported Satsuma and Clementine scion selections were chosen for the first set at four locations. These scion varieties will be propagated on C-35, Carrizo and Rich 16-6 Trifoliate rootstocks at all locations except the desert location. We are currently determining specific field locations for the two sites which are not at UC field stations in order to have Veris soil mapping conducted at each location to provide background data on solil texture and other soil environmental conditions. Rootstock trees are currently being grown at LCREC in order to propagate trees in the fall of 2011.
Our project provides the industry with preliminary data about characteristics of a large number of newly introduced selections and cultivars, evaluates trueness-to-type of these cultivars distributed by the CCPP and maintains citrus blocks for evaluations, fruit displays, field days and tours that permit growers to examine the performance of new selections. Of the 33 mandarin and navel orange cultivars and commercial controls scheduled for evaluation in 2010-2011, samples of twelve representative fruit from each of the two trees of each variety were randomly collected three to five times from the LCREC Demonstration Block or Foundation Block and the UCR Citrus Variety Collection (CVC). Three additional cultivars, one mandarin and two pummelo hybrid cultivars which were released from the CCPP during the transition period between CCPP directors are also being evaluated from both locations at one sample date to determine if evaluations during future seasons are warranted. Data was collected from each sample per cultivar for the following characteristics: fruit width, length, weight, peel thickness, rind color and texture, flesh color, seed number, juice weight and presence of granulation. Juice samples for all cultivars for each sample date and location were also collected for chemical analysis. So far data has been collected on the total soluble solids (TSS) and percentage titratable acidity (TA) from juice aliquots for the first sample date (Sept. 26, 2010) for the 16 Satsuma selections. Five of the Satsuma selection were evaluated for the first time this year and of those, ‘China S-17’ fruit had the highest SSC/TA ratio when sampled from LCREC and had similar ratios to ‘China S-9’, ‘China S-1’ and ‘Miho Wase’ from Riverside with TA levels above 0.9. ‘China S-1’ fruit had the highest SSC/TA when sampled from Riverside with TA less than 0.9. The ‘China S-1’selection had the highest rind color rating from both locations yet the fruit were still prior to color break at this sample date. We are currently collecting total soluble solids and percentage titratable acidity data from the juice aliquots of all remaining samples of the 33 mandarin and navel orange cultivars. For the three lemon selections ‘Femminello Siracusano 2KR’, ‘Lemonade’ and control ‘Limoneria 8-A’, a sample of 50 fruit from each available tree from LCREC, UCR-CVC and the Coachella Valley Agricultural Research Station (CVARS) in Thermal were harvested for concurrent evaluation with the second harvest date (Jan. 7, 2011) of lemons for another CRB project (Lemon Variety Evaluation for the Desert) to utilize the portable packingline to collect fruit size, shape color and exterior grade for each selection. This data was collected and is currently being analyzed. In addition, fruit quality data is being collected for these three selections for the same traits listed above. This fall and winter we provided one presentation at LCREC on our results of new Satsuma selection evaluations, provided a tour of the demonstration block at CVARS and another at LCREC which coincided with the December fruit tasting event, and a presentation on ‘What’s New in Citrus’ at the Citrus Institute in San Bernardino CA for growers.
The Citrus Greening Bibliographical Database [ http://swfrec.ifas.ufl.edu/hlb/database/ ] managed jointly by the Entomology group at the University of Florida – IFAS in Immokalee and the Florida Center for Library Automation in Gainesville has become a widely used source for information on Huanglongbing (HLB) for researchers, growers, and students throughout the world. The database was designed to centralize relevant information in an accessible, user-friendly interface. It has received over 50,000 visits since its official launch in April 2009, surpassing all expectations. With the help of users and collaborators we are continually adding and updating information and cross-referencing existing data for accuracy. Entries represent worldwide research on the various aspects of HLB: the associated bacteria (Candidatus Liberibacter spp.), the vectors [Diaphorina citri Kuwayama and Trioza erytrea (Del Guercio)], effects of the disease on plants and vectors, and management tactics. This quarter we have concentrated on reviewing and updating existing data for accuracy and functionality. Each of the references was reviewed and every link tested to assure optimal function. We now have 1935 citations, 74% of which are linked to their original sources. Eighty-seven percent of the entries are in English, the remaining 13% are in Spanish, Portuguese, Afrikaans, Japanese, Chinese, French, German, Vietnamese, Dutch, Farsi, Arabic, Czech, and Hebrew. In the last year alone, the database have received over 23,000 visits and more than 60,000 articles have been accessed. The development and use of this project has been presented in several national and international meetings in the U.S and in Mexico. The high traffic and the popularity of the database among researchers and students is in part due to increased exposure thanks to links published by other citrus research and extension webpages (see partial list below). Additionally, the database was promoted in a recent article in Citrus Industry (Arevalo et al., 2010). Our goal for this second year of the project is to continue and improve this service by including the most current information as it becomes available, continually searching for and updating existing documents from researchers around the world, and creating an interactive forum in which researchers and growers can exchange HLB related information. Selected external links to the database: (1) FCPRAC request for proposals 2009 [www.fcprac.com/proposals-2009.html] (2) Florida Entomological Society. [www.flaentsoc.org/]. (3) The Grower’s Citrus Greening Resource Center. [www.growermagazine.com/CitrusGreeningResearchCenter] (4) University of Florida Entomology and Nematology Pest Alert. Gainesville FL. [www.entnemdept.ufl.edu/pestalert/] (5) University of Florida- IFAS- Extension CREC. [www.crec.ifas.ufl.edu/extension/greening/links.htm] (6) USDA- APHIS. Plant Health – Citrus greening [http://www.aphis.usda.gov/plant_health/plant_pest_info/citrus_greening/links.shtml ] Arevalo, H.A., A.B. Fraulo, and P.A. Stansly. 2010. The HLB Bibliographical database: an information tool for growers and researcher. Citrus industry. 91:6. 22-23
After a presentation was presented at a meeting of growers and economists at Lake Alfred in April, a new approach was initiated to calculate long-run citrus production projections in Florida. Tree inventory data at the section level (one square mile) was collected from the Florida Agricultural Statistics Service (FASS) and incidence of greening infection was obtained from the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services office in Winter Haven. These two data sets were merged. There were 3,804 sections in Florida with commercial citrus for the 2009-10 season (FASS). Citrus greening has been found to be present in 1,291 sections or 33.9% of the total. The sections where citrus greening was found, however, had a larger share of the State’s citrus trees. The total number of (commercial) citrus trees in Florida was 74.5 million. The 1,291 sections where HLB was found accounted for 40.3 million trees or 54.0% of the total tree population. Again, not all of these 40.3 million trees have HLB but rather they are in sections where HLB has been found. It was also determined that 78.1% of the sections in the state either have a greening infected tree or is within one mile of a section with a greening infected tree. Despite this finding, analysis of the data suggests that the presence of citrus greening does not appear to have a major effect on citrus production. According to the latest FASS citrus tree inventory, citrus acreage declined by 14,777 acres between 2009 and 2010, a decline of 2.6%. While some of this acreage loss can be attributed to greening, comparison of acreage changes in past years suggests that a stronger effect of greening is lack of new planting. Only 10,332 acres were planted between the 2009 and 2010 survey, which is difficult to compare since annual surveys were initiated in 2008. Another factor complicating production forecasting is adoption by some growers of the foliar feeding approach to managing greening. Although research has been initiated, it is not known at this time how successful this approach might be in terms of reducing tree mortality and maintaining fruit production.
The Citrus Greening Bibliographical Database has a new home and a new face. It can now be found at [http://swfrec.ifas.ufl.edu/entomology/extension/hlb/]. The old address will still connect to the database, however, our clients should update the link to ensure continued access. The database is managed jointly by the Entomology group at the University of Florida – IFAS in Immokalee and the Florida Center for Library Automation in Gainesville and continues to be a widely used source for information on Huanglongbing (HLB) for researchers, growers, and students throughout the world. Entries represent worldwide research on the various aspects of HLB: the associated bacteria (Candidatus Liberibacter spp.), the vectors [Diaphorina citri Kuwayama and Trioza erytrea (Del Guercio)], effects of the disease on plants and vectors, and management tactics. The database was designed to be a centralized source of relevant information with an accessible, user-friendly interface. The database has received 144,272 visits since its official launch in April 2009, and this quarter the website received 33,609 visits. This past quarter, January to March 2011, we continued to add new information to the database and cross-reference all information for accuracy as well as began the development of the interactive Official Facebook Page as a place to invite fellow researchers and growers to HLB related workshops and conferences and where researchers and growers can exchange HLB related information and discuss topics of interest and/or concern. We now have 1,985 citations, 85% of which are linked to their original sources. Eighty-six percent of the entries are in English, the remaining 14% are in Spanish, Portuguese, Afrikaans, Japanese, Chinese, French, German, Vietnamese, Dutch, Farsi, Arabic, Czech, Thai, and Hebrew. This project has been presented to researchers and students in several national and international meetings in the U.S and in Mexico and continues to have increased exposure within the research community through citrus research and extension web pages that have published links to our database (see partial list below). Our goal for the upcoming quarter is to continue to improve this service by searching and uploading the most current information from researchers around the world, continuing to link existing entries to their original documents, and developing the content and marketing of the interactive HLB/Greening Facebook forum. Selected external links to the database: (1) Strategic planning for the Florida Citrus Industry: Addressing citrus Greening [http://www.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=12880&page=217] (2) FCPRAC request for proposals 2009 [www.fcprac.com/proposals-2009.html] (3)Florida Entomological Society. [www.flaentsoc.org/]. (4) The Grower’s Citrus Greening Resource Center. [www.growermagazine.com/CitrusGreeningResearchCenter] (5) University of Florida Entomology and Nematology Pest Alert. Gainesville FL. [www.entnemdept.ufl.edu/pestalert/] (6) University of Florida- IFAS- Extension CREC. [www.crec.ifas.ufl.edu/extension/greening/links.htm] (7) Southern Plant Diagnosis Network [http://www.sepdn.org/webfm_send/158]
The Citrus Greening Bibliographical Database is managed jointly by the Entomology group at the University of Florida – IFAS in Immokalee and the Florida Center for Library Automation in Gainesville and continues to be a widely used source for information on citrus greening (HLB) for researchers, growers, and students worldwide. The database was designed to be a centralized source of current, relevant information with an accessible, user-friendly interface. Entries represent research from around the world on the various aspects of HLB, including the associated bacteria (Candidatus Liberibacter spp.), the vectors [Diaphorina citri Kuwayama and Trioza erytrea], effects of the disease on plants and vectors, and management tactics. We now have 2121 citations, 86% of which are linked to their original sources. While the majority of the entries are in English (86%), as the intention of the database is to serve the international research community, the remaining 14% of the entries are in Spanish, Portuguese, Afrikaans, Japanese, Chinese, French, German, Vietnamese, Dutch, Farsi, Arabic, Czech, Thai, and Hebrew. During the last quarter (April to July 2012) there were 227 visits to the home page, 118 of which are new first-time visitors to the site and a total of 5,228 articles were viewed from this database. Seventy-three percent of the visits originated in the US, the remaining 27% visited from 10 countries. We have added new information to the database as well as continued to develop the official Facebook page which continues to expand each month. We now have close to 30 fans of the page. We have also continued to add members to the HLB_database listserv which currently has 16 subscribers. This forum encourages open, dynamic communication among individuals from around the world who have an interest in sharing information on Citrus greening related issues. The project has been presented to researchers and students in several national and international meetings in the U.S, Germany, Brazil, and Mexico and continues to have increased exposure within the research community through citrus research and extension web pages that have published links to our database (see partial list below). Our goal for the next quarter is to continue mining and uploading the most current HLB related information, enhancing the relevance and visibility of the HLB/Greening Facebook page and the listserv service, increase our efforts to connect the international citrus/HLB community, and maintain the high level of data quality by continually checking the data for accuracy and relevance. Selected external links to the database: (1) Strategic planning for the Florida Citrus Industry: Addressing citrus Greening [http://www.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=12880&page=217] (2) FCPRAC request for proposals 2009 [www.fcprac.com/proposals-2009.html] (3)Florida Entomological Society. [www.flaentsoc.org/]. (4) The Grower’s Citrus Greening Resource Center. [www.growermagazine.com/CitrusGreeningResearchCenter] (5) University of Florida Entomology and Nematology Pest Alert. Gainesville FL. [www.entnemdept.ufl.edu/pestalert/] (6) University of Florida- IFAS- Extension CREC. [www.crec.ifas.ufl.edu/extension/greening/links.htm] (7) Southern Plant Diagnosis Network [http://www.sepdn.org/webfm_send/158]
The Citrus Greening Bibliographical Database is managed jointly by the Entomology group at the University of Florida – IFAS in Immokalee and the Florida Center for Library Automation in Gainesville and continues to be a widely used source for information on citrus greening (HLB) for researchers, growers, and students worldwide. The database was designed to be a centralized source of current, relevant information with an accessible, user-friendly interface. Entries represent research from around the world on the various aspects of HLB, including the associated bacteria (Candidatus Liberibacter spp.), the vectors [Diaphorina citri Kuwayama and Trioza erytrea], effects of the disease on plants and vectors, and management tactics. We now have over 2100 citations, 86% of which are linked to their original sources. While the majority of the entries are in English (86%), with remaining 14% of the entries are in Spanish, Portuguese, Afrikaans, Japanese, Chinese, French, German, Vietnamese, Dutch, Farsi, Arabic, Czech, Thai, and Hebrew as the intention of the database is to serve the international research community. During the last quarter (January to April 2012) there were 273 visits to the home page, 143 of which were new, first time visitors to the site. There were 16,400 articles viewed from the site from more than 10 countries. We have continued to increase our audience by expanding outreach efforts in Germany and Brazil through global insecticide research and development groups and introducing it to the members of the Insecticide Resistant Action Committee (IRAC). We have added new, information to the database as well as continued to develop the official Facebook page which continues to expand each month. We now have close to 30 fans of the page. We have also continued to develop the HLB database listserv to encourage open, dynamic communication among individuals around the world who have an interest in sharing information on Citrus greening related issues. This project has been presented to researchers and students in several national and international meetings in the U.S, Germany, Brazil, and Mexico and continues to have increased exposure within the research community through citrus research and extension web pages that have published links to our database (see partial list below). Our goal for the next quarter is to continue mining and uploading the most current HLB related information, enhancing the relevance and visibility of the HLB/Greening Facebook page and the listserv service, increasing our efforts to connect to the international citrus/HLB community, and maintaining the high level of data quality by continually checking the data for accuracy and relevance. Selected external links to the database: (1) Strategic planning for the Florida Citrus Industry: Addressing citrus Greening [http://www.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=12880&page=217] (2) FCPRAC request for proposals 2009 [www.fcprac.com/proposals-2009.html] (3)Florida Entomological Society. [www.flaentsoc.org/]. (4) The Grower’s Citrus Greening Resource Center. [www.growermagazine.com/CitrusGreeningResearchCenter] (5) University of Florida Entomology and Nematology Pest Alert. Gainesville FL. [www.entnemdept.ufl.edu/pestalert/] (6) University of Florida- IFAS- Extension CREC. [www.crec.ifas.ufl.edu/extension/greening/links.htm] (7) Southern Plant Diagnosis Network [http://www.sepdn.org/webfm_send/158]
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