Carlton Collins recently was named top master’s researcher in the E. Broadus Browne Research Awards for Outstanding Graduate Student Research competition at the University of Georgia (UGA) College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences. He was recognized for his research on huanglongbing (HLB) disease, also known as citrus greening.
Collins, born in Jamaica, was introduced to citrus production on a small scale through his father’s agricultural cooperative. His passion for finding a citrus greening solution through early detection and characterization is a result of seeing the devastating effects of the disease as a teenager.
“Citrus greening disease, and other viruses and pathogens, had pretty much wiped out much of Jamaica’s citrus industry,” Collins said. “It was bad. They were trying to replenish the industry with new trees that were disease-free, and they became interested in the work my dad was doing.”
Collins always had an interest in agriculture in general, but this experience led him to plant pathology. After migrating to the United States and completing his bachelor’s degree in Idaho, he went to work for Alejandra Maria Jimenez Madrid, director of UGA’s Plant Molecular Diagnostic Lab.
A report on Collins’ research noted that the Asian citrus psyllid (ACP) is the vector of Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus (CLas), the causal agent of citrus greening. “The citrus industry in Georgia is in the process of a rapid expansion, and based on experiences with HLB in Florida, there is great concern about the potential impacts of HLB on this emerging industry,” the report’s abstract stated. “Prior to 2023, ACP had been identified in residential citrus trees in isolated Georgia counties, but little to no testing of psyllids for CLas had occurred. However, in 2023, one individual psyllid collected from Chatham County was confirmed positive for CLas by PCR and sequencing.
“Furthermore, during 2023, ACP adults and nymphs were identified for the first time in a Georgia commercial citrus grove. The finding of ACP in a commercial planting represents a significant risk for CLas dissemination and thereby has the potential to stall the rapid expansion of Georgia’s citrus industry. In the coming years, surveillance and testing of ACP from commercial groves will be essential for the early detection and management of HLB and its vector to reduce HLB spread within Georgia’s commercial groves.”
Source: University of Georgia
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