Fundecitrus researchers Renato Bassanezi and Silvio Lopes in April addressed the citrus greening situation in Brazil from an epidemiological point of view during the International Epidemiology Workshop held in Brazil.
Lopes presented work on the potential of citrus plants in backyards being a source of Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus (the bacterium associated with greening) inoculum for commercial orchards.
Fundecitrus has been working on this topic for some time. Since 2018, external actions have been carried out by the Technology Transfer team, aiming to replace citrus and myrtle plants in urban areas. These plants are attractive to psyllids, which are the citrus greening insect vectors and the source of the bacteria. Replacing these plants would reduce the spread of the infectious insect to commercial orchards and the contamination of healthy plants.
Bassanezi presented work on determining the economically viable border strip for weekly application of insecticides. He also spoke about greening management strategies based on the disease’s epidemiology.
The works presented by Fundecitrus are the results of the São Paulo Research Foundation’s thematic project on greening, coordinated by Bassanezi, who also provided the resources for researchers to participate in the event.
Participation in the International Epidemiology Workshop was important for sharing Fundecitrus’ studies and efforts to combat greening and in establishing new research partnerships. It also served to spread knowledge that is being produced in the area of plant disease epidemiology on a global scale. That knowledge includes the use of artificial intelligence and remote sensing for surveillance and monitoring, modeling and prediction of plant diseases, and climate change.
The Epidemiology Committee of the International Society of Phytopathology and the Brazilian Society of Phytopathology organized the workshop. It was held this year in Foz do Iguaçu, Brazil. The event takes place approximately every five years and brings together the main working groups in the epidemiology of plant diseases. This year it was attended by more than 100 epidemiologists from 26 countries.
Source: Fundecitrus
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