Work on HLB carried out at Fundecitrus by student Leandro Jun Soki Shibutani was honored at the recent Brazilian Congress of Phytopathology. The first part of Shibutani’s dissertation on the theme “Frequency of spraying thiamethoxam and transmission of Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus in orange trees under constant arrival of infective psyllids” took second place in the Best Master’s Works category. It was among more than 650 papers presented at the congress.
Shibutani is a master’s student in phytopathology at Luiz de Queiroz College of Agriculture, University of São Paulo.
Shibutani evaluated the efficiency of weekly and fortnightly application of thiamethoxam, during the budding phase of orange trees, in eliminating the HLB-spreading psyllid and preventing infection by the bacteria that causes HLB. HLB is also known as citrus greening.
“It is a great recognition, and being able to share the results of this work with the scientific community reinforces our commitment to contribute to citrus growing in the fight against greening,” said Shibutani.
The conclusion of the study showed that even with short-term application, thiamethoxam was not able to fully protect the shoots from greening infection when infected psyllids arrive every day. The treatment did, however, cause elimination of most of the psyllids used in the work. “We had an infection rate of around 70% of these shoots in weekly and biweekly application periods,” Shibutani said. “It is the same rate for sprouts that have not received any protection.”
The results of the dissertation reinforce the importance of regionalized management as one of the most important measures to combat the psyllid. “It is a study that draws attention to the need for this regionalized action to prevent insects contaminated by the greening bacteria from reaching healthy orchards,” said Fundecitrus researcher and work supervisor Renato Bassanezi. “Even if the citrus grower is careful to carry out weekly applications, he is not free from the impacts of an infestation coming from a poorly managed neighboring orchard.”
Source: Fundecitrus
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