Fundecitrus recently held an international seminar dedicated to citrus greening. The event had approximately 150 participants and featured experts from China and Brazil.
GENOME EDITING
Xuefeng Wang, from China’s Southwest University’s Citrus Research Institute, highlighted his interest in building a solid partnership in the area of genome editing. He said his group has already identified promising genes that can contribute to the development of plants resistant to citrus greening.
PEPTIDE TESTING
Jian Ye, a specialist in greening resistance from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said China and Brazil face the same challenge with greening. “In the last 100 years, there hasn’t been a truly effective method to control the disease,” he stated.
Ye reported that his working group discovered natural mechanisms of resistance to greening and developed a peptide capable of protecting plants from infection. He emphasized that testing this compound in Brazil, in partnership with Fundecitrus, represents “a great opportunity to move forward together in the search for concrete solutions.”
GENETIC ENGINEERING
Francisco Aragão, a researcher at Embrapa Genetic Resources and Biotechnology and head of the Laboratory of Genetic Engineering Applied to Tropical Agriculture, gave an overview of genetic engineering.
INTEGRATED MANAGEMENT
Fundecitrus researcher Renato Bassanezi presented an overview of the recent evolution of citrus greening in the state of São Paulo and highlighted the effects of strategies adopted in the field. He said that in the last two years it has been possible to slow the increase in the incidence of the disease thanks to advances in psyllid control, reduced intervals between applications and integrated management across farms.
“These actions have resulted in a smaller vector population and improvements in the elimination of diseased plants,” Bassanezi said. He also pointed out the importance of directing new plantings to regions with less disease pressure, which has contributed to more efficient results.
Bassanezi stressed that the severity of the disease is still increasing, impacting fruit drop and productivity, but that the medium term tends toward stabilization. “With new technologies, such as peptides and biotechnology tools, it will be possible to recover traditional areas and reduce severity,” he said. He added that success depends on the integration of measures inside and outside the farms, especially in the regional control of the vector and the elimination of diseased plants.
Source: Fundecitrus
Share this Post