The July issue of Citrus Industry magazine focuses on the latest work to breed better citrus trees. Chief among the goals is developing varieties resistant or tolerant to HLB. A trio of articles will give readers an inside look at the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS) and U.S. Department of Agriculture Agricultural Research Service (USDA ARS) citrus breeding efforts.
The citrus breeding team at the UF/IFAS Citrus Research and Education Center In Lake Alfred is working to solve the low Brix problem that has been hurting Florida growers. An article by Jude Grosser, Maria Brenelli, Ling Liu, Yu Wang and Fred Gmitter shares what early-mid and late-season sweet orange varieties are showing high Brix. The research team also tells what scion/rootstock combinations are yielding the best Brix. In addition, their work is exploring HLB-tolerant hybrids that could be used in not-from-concentrate orange juice blending to improve flavor.
UF/IFAS assistant professor John Chater explains what efforts are being undertaken to speed up the citrus breeding process. His article discusses high-throughput phenotyping and field evaluations via drone.
In a Q&A article, Citrus Industry Editor-in-Chief Frank Giles finds out the details of the latest USDA citrus breeding efforts from Kim Bowman and Matthew Mattia. The pair of geneticists share information on their research programs and what new rootstocks and varieties are available and in the pipeline. Also included is an update on duplicating the Donaldson tree.
In addition to the citrus breeding articles, the July issue contains insights on stress factors affecting hurricane-damaged trees as well as advice for tree recovery using a multipronged approach.
Find all of these articles and more in the July issue of Citrus Industry magazine, coming soon to your mailbox or inbox. If you are not already a subscriber, sign up here for a free subscription.
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