Brazilian producers might have one more sustainable tool in the fight against greening, one of the main diseases of citriculture. A research carried out by Fundecitrus, a research center maintained in partnership between producers and the industry, points out that the use of processed kaolin, a non-toxic compound specially formulated for spraying on agricultural crops, can reduce the entry of psyllid, the insect vector of citrus greening disease, in citrus groves.

Two experiments were performed in the laboratory. The first one to evaluate the landing of the psyllid, when insects were released on plants sprayed with processed kaolin and on plants sprayed with water.  In the second experiment, insects were placed on the surface of plants and monitored electronically using a technique that identifies all of their feeding habits. The objective was to evaluate the feeding habits of the insect on seedlings sprayed with processed kaolin.

As a result of the first experiment, processed kaolin reduced in about 40% the number of psyllids that landed on the treated plants compared to those that were only sprayed with water. In addition, the test followed once again with the plants sprayed only with water. And regardless of the treatments, 90% of the psyllids penetrate their styles (oral apparatus) in the plants. However, processed kaolin reduced in about 50% the number of insects that reached the phloem compared to untreated plants. “The study showed that processed kaolin is efficient to prevent infestation of psyllids, interfering negatively in the insect’s ability to find citrus trees,” explains Fundecitrus researcher and work coordinator, Mr. Marcelo Miranda.

Kaolin, when mixed with water and sprayed on plants, forms a protective white layer that reflects solar radiation, reducing leaf temperature and mitigating sunburn, and making it difficult for insects to recognize the plants. “The combination of spraying processed kaolin with insecticides can be an effective strategy for the management of disease at the edges.” In his opinion, the result indicates that processed kaolin has great potential to be incorporated into citrus greening control.

For more than two decades, researcher Walter Leal has been considered as one of the world’s leading specialists in chemical ecology and insect olfaction. In the 2000s, Mr. Leal joined the team that identified the pheromone of the citrus fruit borer, one of the worst citrus pests at the time. Currently, he coordinates the project that looks for attractive odors to the psyllid. In 2017, the group made an important discovery for citriculture: the identification of the sexual pheromone of the psyllid, the transmitting insect of citrus greening.

With this work, the expectation is that in the future the pheromone can be put in the traps to attract the psyllid, and thus help in managing the citrus greening effectively. Among the benefits of this type of research for citriculture and the environment are the use of measures that could reduce agrochemicals for disease management. “I’m also very happy to see the genuine interest in using techniques that are kinder to the environment, such as the use of biological control products, pheromones and other semiochemicals,” says the researcher.

According to Mr. Leal, identifying the odor that attracts the psyllid is an important step in controlling the disease. “I see it as a very important milestone.” Now the project follows two parallel directions: one should study the issue of pheromone formulation, how to apply it to a material that can be placed in the traps in the field, while the other front will work focusing on improving the attractiveness. “We can compare this to a software. After the development of the software, new versions come up, because we work to improve it more and more,” explains the researcher. And he concludes: “I think citriculture is on the right track, investing in research and trying to fight the problems that come up.”

Source: Fundecitrus

 Ahead of the Fund for Citrus Protection (Fundecitrus), the agronomist Dr. Lourival Carmo Monaco, who is also a citrus grower and president of the Citriculture Chamber, highlights the importance of science and research, which have been making citriculture an increasingly sustainable activity.

“You know how it is: a person wants to swim across a river and does; but comes out on the other side at a point lower down, not at all where he expected. Isn’t life really a dangerous business?” “Distinguished by the knowledge” and “aesthetically perfect”, Houaiss’s dictionary definitions for “celebrated” and “sublime” respectively, the passage of “The Devil to Pay in the Backlands”, by João Guimarães Rosa, serves as illustration for the 40-year history of Fundecitrus.

From the institution officially founded on September 16^th, 1977 to fight citrus canker, two decades after the identification of the first outbreak of the disease in the state of São Paulo, in the city of Presidente Prudente, only the funding format was left, with contributions from citrus growers who provide the orange juice industry and the industry itself, and more importantly, the “character trait that drives someone to undertake or make decisions on their own,” again a definition of Houaiss, for “initiative.”

Practical, the citrus grower, an agronomist with a master’s and doctorate degree from the University of California, and current president of the Citrus Supply Chain Sector Chamber, part of the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Food Supply (MAPA), and Fundecitrus, Mr. Lourival Carmo Monaco reads “process” where Mr. Guimarães Rosa suggests “crossing” and reads “evolution” where the author suggests “current”. “Fundecitrus has always been up to date with the demands of citriculture,” says Mr. Monaco.

For example, Mr. Monaco resorts to citrus canker, a phytosanitary challenge which has never left the institution’s agenda. “Until the effective date of the Risk Mitigation System, in March of this year, suppression [disposal of contaminated trees and fields] was the only way to control the disease,” he says.

In that period, Mr. Monaco recalls, Fundecitrus participated in the Citrus Canker Eradication National Campaign (CANECC) in the 1970s and, in the 1980s, created the Citrus Canker Prevention State Campaign (CEPRECC), he began, with his own team of agronomists, to guide citrus farmers growers on prevention, and carried out the so-called “census”, as it was known at the time the operation to map the park of São Paulo, and list all groves affected by the disease.

“The decade of 1990 is marked by the creation of the Scientific Department,” Mr. Monaco continues. “Since then, in partnership with several scientific institutions, we [Fundecitrus] have sequenced the genome of the bacterium Xanthomonas citri subsp. citri, we established its life span, we verified the safety of the pruning for the eradication of the disease, we determined the methodology of inspection, and we studied the influence of the citrus miner, the times and intervals more appropriate for application of bactericides, and even the reduction of product volume,” he says.

“With all the knowledge we have acquired, we helped the Ministry of Agriculture to support the Normative Instruction No. 37, and we are helping the Secretariat for Agriculture and Supply of the State of São Paulo to implement SAA-10, laws on the Risk Mitigation System, a claim of citrus growers from São Paulo”, he adds.

In October, Fundecitrus hosted a meeting of the Sector Chamber, mediated by Mr. Monaco, with representatives of state secretariats of federative units that adopted the system and citrus growers from São Paulo to deal with adjustments in this phytosanitary status.

“Something absolutely natural when a drastic change comes into force,” says Mr. Monaco. Apart from de main point, whose pleas will be evaluated by the Ministry, the event symbolizes how committed Fundecitrus is in favor of the full functioning of all links of the chain. This capillarity gives hints of the path that will be followed from here on.

RAMIFICATIONS

Mr. Monaco says Fundecitrus has a very clear role within the citrus belt of São Paulo, Triângulo Mineiro, and the Southwest of Minas Gerais: acquiring knowledge through research and exchanges and transferring technologies to citrus growers through direct contact with agronomists, specific events and technical materials.

“In this sense, communication has a strategic role,” he says. The president of Fundecitrus knows the value of science to the results that will allow the maintenance and even the increase of competitiveness of citriculture of São Paulo and Minas Gerais. He was president of FINEP, a national agency for promotion of studies and projects in science, technology and innovation, and State Secretary of Agriculture of São Paulo, among other functions and positions that he held throughout his extensive professional career as a scientific researcher, and then, director general of the Agronomic Institute of Campinas (IAC).

However, according to Mr. Monaco, reduce Fundecitrus to a scientific institution is to have a partial view of the institution.

“Fundecitrus stands for Fund for Citrus Protection. And there are several ways to defend citrus. This defense, as we understand it, goes beyond the phytosanitary scope,” he explains. “Fundecitrus today has regional, national and global influence,” he says. “We are present in both one or two-day technical events aimed at citrus growers, addressing a specific disease or pest, answering questions, bringing information, as well as in international forums and congresses,” he adds.

Even within this set consisting of science, transfer of technology and communication, Fundecitrus’ operation can be considered quite broad and complex. Regarding citrus greening, for example, the institution coordinates a series of researches, ranging from the behavior of psyllid and detailed biological studies, such as the dynamics of budding, going through the manifestation of the disease in the groves, which showed how the edges are more sensitive to infection, up to biotechnology, among others.

“Once citrus greening was identified in Brazil [in 2004], we recommend the management tripod [acquisition of healthy seedlings, eradication of sick plants and control of the insect vector]. Today, the tripod gave way to the ten commandments. The list of recommendations more than tripled,” he argues.

To justify his view that Fundecitrus goes beyond science, field in which he became a world reference, Mr. Monaco also highlights two activities of the institution.

The MasterCitrus – Fundecitrus’ Professional Master’s in Disease and Pest Control, mainly for agronomists and biologists, which has been training citrus professionals in strategy, planning and implementation of actions against diseases affecting orange, lemon and tangerine groves since 2009.

The Orange Production Forecast (PES, in Portuguese), conducted by Fundecitrus since the 2015/16 season, has also contributed to the international prestige of the institution. “The event to release the number of orange boxes of the season is transmitted in real time in our website, with English translation. The audience this year reached almost a thousand hits, from many countries,” he says.

Although the number itself raises market interest – hence the Fundecitrus’ responsibility for data confidentiality – Mr. Monaco says that for the institution, the most important thing is the work behind the number. “To reach the quantity, we have traveled more than 300 thousand miles. With the Tree Inventory, we broadened the knowledge of our citriculture profile in its diversity of climate, and social and economic conditions for the exercise of best agricultural and commercial practices,” he justifies.

SUSTAINABILITY

How to produce on a large scale (economic aspect), ensuring the generation of jobs and taxes (social aspect), with the least possible impact (environmental aspect)? “From the strictly technical point of view, citrus greening is a phytosanitary challenge. As the disease has the potential to destroy the whole citrus park, ending with an agribusiness chain that moves annually USD 14.5 billion, collects USD 180 million in taxes for around 350 municipalities and generates 200 thousand direct and indirect jobs, citrus greening is an economic and social problem,” says Mr. Monaco.

“Therefore, fighting citrus greening is not only a problem for citrus growers and competent governmental authorities: it is also a problem for society,” he concludes.

And to mobilize society in this fight, which they can collaborate by eliminating or exchanging myrtle and citrus plants in backyards, farms and ranches for other ornamental or fruit species, Fundecitrus expanded the actions of the campaign #UNITEDAGAINSTGREENING.

Usually, the messages are restricted to the citrus community. This time, they were broadcast on television, journalistic websites and outdoor signs, as well as face-to-face awareness work carried out together with several city halls in the countryside, in partnership with companies in the sector.

For the third consecutive year, the incidence of the disease remained around 17%. Stabilization is positive, but the level is high – more than 30 million sick trees. The fear is that any increase in the index will make it impossible to control.

“If the disease has been causing huge losses year after year in Florida [southeast of the United States], which for years has been considered a model of productivity for the world, you can imagine the citrus greening destruction capacity,” says Mr. Monaco.

The situation in Florida is increasingly dramatic. According to the latest forecast by the USDA, the US citrus park will harvest 50 million boxes – 162.1 million boxes were harvested ten years ago.

It is true that this harvest was strongly impacted by Hurricane Irma, but citrus greening is the main cause of this sharp drop. It is estimated that 90% of Florida trees are sick. Another social problem of the disease is that the incidence is higher in small properties. Basically, this is an epidemiological issue, not necessarily a sophistication of management measures. The insect vector of the bacterium settles in the first plants of the grove: what is conventionally called “edge effect”. Because the border plants of small properties proportionally account for a significant portion of the total number of trees, control is much more difficult.

“The social commitment of Fundecitrus is serious and irreversible. We do everything we can to warn about the dangers of citrus greening and to bring citrus growers every possibility of improvement in control,” says Mr. Monaco.

One of them, the Phytosanitary Alert, launched in online format in August 2012 in the regions of Santa Cruz do Rio Pardo, Avaré and Araraquara, in the state of São Paulo, combines efficiency and environmental responsibility. At the time, the technology covered 80 thousand hectares in three regions. Today, the Alert covers more than 260,000 hectares in ten regions.

With regional management, citrus growers of a certain region spray together and simultaneously. With everyone acting at the same time, the psyllid has no escape route, and the population is reduced. This way, efficiency, economy and lower amounts of agricultural pesticides are on the same level.

At Fundecitrus, everything intertwines. “Do more with less. This theme is intrinsic to all studies of volume reduction. Decrease of active ingredients, less water and less time of machines in operation, with lower fuel consumption. All this, as long as applications are made at appropriate times and intervals, issues also studied by Fundecitrus, provides controls as or even more efficient than previous theories and the tradition of citrus growers,” says Mr. Monaco. “This is sustainability,” he says.

In this context, the release of Tamarixia radiata – a tiny wasp that, when it reproduces, kills the nymphs (young phase) of the psyllid – in areas that do not receive chemical control contributes to the decrease of the population of the citrus greening vector.

“Studies on biological control are still incipient. We are trying to raise other species of natural enemies for citrus pests. But in science, we know that what is latent today, tomorrow can become a solution, “says Mr. Monaco.

This unpredictability meets another celebrated and sublime lesson proposed by Mr. Guimarães Rosa in the same “The Devil to Pay in the Backlands”: “I mean, the truth is not in the setting out nor in the arriving: it comes to us in the middle of the journey.”

Fundecitrus announced the first bioinsecticide to control the psyllid, vector of the bacteria that causes citrus greening. It’s a product based on the fungus Isaria fumosorosea, which kills the insect. The research was conducted for seven years by Professor Italo Delalibera Jr of ESALQ-USP. “It’s a great achievement. It’s the first biological product based on Isaria fumosorosea in Brazil, and there are few of them in the world. It’s a tool with great potential that contributes a lot to the citrus industry”, the researcher analyzes.
When the psyllid sucks the sap of a sick tree to feed itself, it works as a transmitter of the disease-causing bacteria, propagating citrus greening in the groves. The fungus acts in direct contact with the target. After spraying, the fungus deposits a substance on the psyllid, which has a complex of enzymes that act to break down the protective structures of the insect, allowing the fungus to penetrate the body. Once inside the insect, the fungus continues its development process where it also releases enzymes and metabolites that lead the insect to death. Both nymphs and adults are susceptible.
The research is a partnership of the “Luís de Queiroz” School of Agriculture (ESALQ-USP), the Brazilian Citriculture Defense Fund (Fundecitrus), and Koppert, a biological control and natural pollination company.
The product is already registered with the Ministry of Agriculture under the trade name Challenger. As it is a biological product, it leaves no residues and doesn’t require a grace period because the active ingredient, the fungus Isaria fumosorosea doesn’t accumulate in leaves and fruits.

The Brazilian Citriculture Defense Fund is working hard to promote the campaign United Against Greening. Now, the campaign extends to the citrus belt urban areas, areas where, at first, there is no management of the disease. The new stage of the work wants to mobilize the population of these areas, and in rural areas as well, where there are no commercial groves, as it’s the case of small farms and ranches.

In order to do that, Fundecitrus has hired a new team, which is developing actions in these places. One of them is the replacement of orange and lemon trees with other fruit varieties. The teams have visited homes and schools as well, to talk about the campaign. The actions to exchange the plants are carried out through home visits, and have the support of lectures for students and teachers of municipal schools, production of printed materials and cars with sound system to bring information to the community. So far more than 2,000 plants have been exchanged. “Citrus and myrtle plants in towns make it difficult to fight citrus greening on commercial properties. Developing this work in areas with no management is extremely important due to the destructive potential of the disease, “says Fundecitrus agronomist, Mr. Ivaldo Sala, work coordinator.

The teams work in partnership with town halls and companies to exchange myrtles, and orange, lemon and mandarin trees contaminated with citrus greening, which hasn’t received the chemical control recommended, for other fruit and ornamental trees. The psyllid, citrus greening transmitting insect, when feeding on orange, lemon and mandarin trees infected with the disease, it acquires the bacterium and starts to spread it. The insect travels long distances, leaves the urban area and arrives in the rural area, contaminating the groves.

*pictures gently provided by Fundecitrus

According to the farmer, with the arrival of the bees there was an increase of pollination, which helps in the development of the fruits. For him, it is clear that the activities of bees in the grove provide increased productivity, fruit size and amount of juice. The beekeeper is also satisfied with the partnership. In 2016, the production was 50 pounds of honey per hive, on average. This year, according to him, the quality of honey increased because of the bloom and the sales had a better price.

The orange blossom honey pleases consumers because of the slow crystallization and lighter color, different from other types of honey. To avoid harming the production of bees, the orange farm uses selective insecticides that are not toxic to bees, the location of the apiary was also chosen strategically between a grove and a pond, and care is taken not to go with the tractors near where they are. On the other hand, the beekeeper takes important precautions to avoid the risk of accidents, such as choosing the time with less workers in the grove to work with the bees, and when he has a large amount of insects, he uses the gate that does not go through the main building to avoid the presence of animals and children.

Aiming at increasing the control of citrus greening (huanglongbing / HLB), the Brazilian Citriculture Defense Fund (Fundecitrus) launched the “United Against Greening” campaign in mid-June in order to raise awareness of the different chains of the citrus sector and society on the impact of the disease that causes loss of fruits and decreases the productivity of groves.

The campaign aims to engage the whole society in fighting the areas that still have no control of the disease. In order to do that, several actions are being taken, such as the incentive to replace citrus plants in backyards for seedlings of other fruit trees. The campaign also gained social networks with people using the #unidoscontraogreening, both on Facebook and Instagram, with pictures showing management activities and control of the disease.

To announce the campaign, Fundecitrus has released a video, and the English version can be seen here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LsulgbEJWaA

There’s also a microsite where information about the disease, its impact, the progress of the campaign and how to help is available. For more information please visit www.unidoscontraogreening.com.br

The citrus industry and citrus greening

Identified in 2004 in the citrus park of São Paulo and Minas Gerais, citrus greening has already caused the eradication of 100 thousand hectares and the elimination of 46 million plants. The psyllid Diaphorina citri is the insect that transmits the bacteria that cause the disease, and lives in citrus plants (orange, tangerine, lemon and sour lime trees) and myrtle (Murraya spp.), popularly known in Brazil as “lady of the night”. The abandoned, organic, and backyard orchards in urban and rural areas, which do not receive applications for disease control, are also important breeding sites for the transmitter and the bacteria. The citrus industry moves $14 billion annually and generates 200,000 direct and indirect jobs (data from the Markestrat’s study) in around 350 towns of the citrus belt of São Paulo and Minas Gerais.

The organization became a reference in the development of researches and new technologies that allowed greater productivity

In the last 40 years citriculture has made great strides in Brazil. Increased field efficiency, along with more modern management, has resulted in increased productivity, taking up a smaller area and improving the quality of citrus production. Much of this progress was made thanks to the research and technological development work of organizations such as the Brazilian Citriculture Defense Fund – Fundecitrus, which this year celebrates 40 years of service to the sector.

Maintained by citrus growers and the industry, Fundecitrus has become a world reference in research development. Among them, the Phytosanitary Alert stands out, a tool to aid in the control and integrated management of citrus greening. The system offers a complete X-ray of the disease in all regions of the citrus belt, enabling the control to be more accurately and effectively. Another project related to the management of citrus greening is the biological control of the disease, using tamarixia, insects that are predators of the psyllid and that have been effective in fighting the proliferation of the disease in a sustainable way.

Another work that has become a reference in the sector is the Orange Production Forecast (PES, in Portuguese), which makes a complete inventory of the groves, with planted area, plant conditions and the forecast of the orange crop. All these tools have been developed thanks to investments in the technical staff and also in the agreements with universities such as the University of São Paulo – USP and the University of the State of São Paulo – Unesp, as well as research and technological development organizations, such as Embrapa in Brazil and the USDA and the University of Florida in the United States. Find out more about Fundecitrus’ work in the video below:

The announcement was made during Citrus Week, a traditional fair that took place in the first week of June at the Sylvio Moreira Citrus Center, in the city of Cordeirópolis, countryside of São Paulo. In addition to bringing together the productive chain to discuss the opportunities and challenges of the sector, the event is focused on the dissemination of knowledge and has several free technical lectures on topics such as pest control, best agricultural practices, productivity, among others.

For the president of Fundecitrus, Mr. Lourival Monaco, the project of the Secretariat will help to make society aware of the risk of citrus greening. “You have to understand that citrus greening is not only a technical problem but also an economic one,” he explains.

Check the video below explaining the entire model of this work.