International issues impacting citrus greening research
Researchers studying citrus greening, a biological threat to Florida's citrus industry that could surpass the problems created by the citrus canker that impacted shipping markets, are getting good news and bad news from the Pacific Rim.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Agriculture Research Service announced this month that there could be a natural remedy for huanglongbing'the formal name for citrus greening'in the form of inter-planted guava trees within citrus groves. The practice was started in southern Vietnam and growers there say the guava somehow suppresses pysllids, the insects that spread greening. USDA researchers learned of the promising news during a recent trip to Japan.
If that is the good news, however, the bad news is that guava trees attract fruit flies. That could impact Florida citrus exports to the critical Japan market, which has prohibitions against imported fruit grown in an area where fruit flies are present.
Regardless, officials from the trade association Florida Citrus Mutual are hopeful.
'The fact that there an opportunity for a natural remedy to assist with the problem in greening is terrific,' Florida Citrus Mutual executive vice president/CEO Mike Sparks said in a statement.
International issues impacting citrus greening research
