The Citrus Research and Development Foundation (CRDF) board of directors held a lengthy discussion about the upcoming merger with the Citrus Research and Field Trial (CRAFT) Foundation during its March meeting. Then the board considered research projects and funded four of them.
A project by Hailing Jin of the University of California Riverside will test trees in Florida which contain far more finger lime peptides than the trees that were previously tested in the state.
“Zhonglin Mou of UF/IFAS has a project that might figure out how to edit mature tissue with high rates of success in a way that doesn’t result in a tree that would be considered a genetically modified organism,” said Rick Dantzler, CRDF chief operating officer.
“Another project by David Norman of UF/IFAS and grower Pat Shirard will field trial a biostimulant which they have identified from their work with survivor trees as a way to allow HLB-infected trees to cope better,” reported Dantzler.
A project by Bob Turgeon of Cornell University was funded to be continued. His research has enjoyed tremendous success to date in killing HLB bacteria with antibodies at the point of infection.
“The board also invited a full proposal from a UF/IFAS researcher who believes she has discovered how to predict fruit quality from juvenile tissue, which could be an extremely helpful tool for plant breeders,” Dantzler added. “Other projects were considered but deferred until we can receive more information.”
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