CRDF Funding Focuses: ACPs and Trees of the Future

The Citrus Research and Development Foundation (CRDF) met for its July board of directors meeting to discuss a number of research topics. According to CRDF Chief Operating Officer Rick Dantzler, Asian citrus psyllids (ACPs) were on the agenda.

“The CRDF board approved funding of a proposal from Lukasz Stelinski, an entomologist and professor with the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, to evaluate how the widespread use of oxytetracycline is affecting the ‘hotness’ of psyllids as well as their prevalence,” Dantzler said. “In addition, the proposal will evaluate psyllid resistance to 12 pesticides commonly used by growers.”

The research will span across eight to 10 sites in Florida.

The CRDF board also approved a request for proposal for large-scale field trials, for which the Florida Legislature approved $100 million in funding this year. The board then reviewed a dozen potential research priorities, endorsing 10 of them.

“Of the 10, pulling transgenic trees out of juvenility will be a leading focus this year,” Dantzler added. “In addition, we will be working with Fundecitrus, a citrus research entity in Brazil, to field trial a tree that Fundecitrus has developed. The tree repels the psyllid to attractant trees on grove perimeters. CRDF sees this as a potential ‘grove of the future’ to match the ‘trees of the future’ that are being evaluated now.”