The University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS) Southwest Florida Research and Education Center in Immokalee hosted a citrus field day on April 10. The event showcased the research being conducted at the center.
One of the tour stops featured individual protective cover (IPC) research led by Fernando Alferez, UF/IFAS associate professor of citrus horticulture. Thanks in part to his research, IPCs have become a standard practice among Florida citrus growers to protect trees from the Asian citrus psyllid (ACP) and HLB. More recently, Alferez has been studying the benefit of combining IPCs with applications of brassinosteroids after the covers are removed from trees.
Alferez said his research has shown that brassinosteroids improve tree growth and have some protective effects against pests and diseases. “We consistently find less canker lesions and rust mite incidence, to name a couple, in brassinosteroid-treated trees.”
Alferez also showed attendees the facility’s citrus under protective screen (CUPS) structures. Growing in CUPS is becoming more popular because the structures exclude HLB-spreading ACP and provide other benefits to fruit production.
Ute Albrecht, UF/IFAS associate professor of plant physiology, gave an update on trunk- injection research. She showed trees that have been treated with oxytetracycline (OTC) and potential alternatives. Her research over the years consistently shows the benefits of applying OTC to improve tree health, yields and quality.
When it comes to applying OTC to trunks, Yiannis Ampatzidis, UF/IFAS associate professor of precision agriculture engineering, demonstrated his trunk-injection robot that delivers materials autonomously to trees. The system applies OTC under pressure to speed the uptake of the material into the tree trunk.
Sarah Strauss, UF/IFAS associate professor of soil microbiology, told attendees about her research looking at the benefits of cover crops and compost in citrus. She said these two things can change the soil microbiome in groves and potentially provide benefits to soil fertility as well as tree health.
Other field tour stops included research on supplementing trunk-injection therapies with foliar applications of systemic acquired resistance inducer compounds, weed management and more.
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