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

A natural repellent removed from the guava leaf may be the solution to control citrus greening, considered one of the worst diseases of citriculture in Brazil and in the world. The product is being developed in a partnership between the Federal University of São Carlos (UFSCar) and the Fund for Citrus Protection (Fundecitrus), and it should start to be tested in the groves soon.

The disease is caused by a bacterium that is transmitted by an insect vector, the psyllid. Because it is too small and difficult to identify, it easily enters the groves. If the plant is infected, it has to be eliminated. And because of that, the group of researchers began to investigate natural pesticides capable of repelling the psyllid and attract them to another area, without harming the environment and human health.

They discovered a molecule in the guava leaf that has this attribute. “Our research looked for natural volatile compounds, which are the odors. Our strategy is to use these compounds to repel the insect from the grove to another area, where we can apply pesticides in a more rational way, and also to avoid contaminating the environment,” explained Fundecitrus researcher Mr. Rodrigo Facchini Magnani.

The research in laboratory has already been completed. The next step includes studying the effectiveness of this repellent in the field. “To check if it really works as a repellent and then incorporate it into citrus greening management,” said Mr. Magnani.

The latest Fundecitrus data showed that 16.73% of the groves in the state of São Paulo were affected by the disease last year, with around 32 million infected trees.

 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 Biological Institute received an investment of R$2,246,769.40 from the Government of São Paulo to develop a research project that will monitor the environmental impacts on the application of agrochemicals in agricultural areas. The studies are expected to last three years.

The project “Environmental Impacts on the Application of Agrochemicals in Agricultural Areas” aims to assess the contamination of pesticides in several state areas. The first sites to be surveyed will be Brotas, a tourist town cut across by the Jacaré Pepira river and close to sugarcane and orange growing areas, and Ibiúna, a town near the city of São Paulo, which produces vegetables. Other regions will be selected during the course of work.

The Institute’s researchers will collect samples from soil, sediment, surface water, rivers and streams, and groundwater, such as artesian wells. The samples will be analyzed in the Laboratory of Ecology of Agrochemicals of the Biological Institute, in São Paulo, which carries out research related to the monitoring of the environment and studies on the effect of these compounds on the biome in agricultural and urban areas.

For the director of the Biological Institute, Mr. Antônio Batista Filho, the project aims to measure impacts on the use of chemicals in soil and water, and help to identify the correct management in the field. According to Ms. Eliane Vieira, an BI researcher and project coordinator, the research will reduce environmental impacts without harming agricultural productivity. “In addition, the study will collaborate on the prevention of public health problems due to the use of chemical compounds in agriculture, and will promote access to information that helps choosing the most effective and, at the same time, more affordable means to assess the quality of water,” she said.

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 pathway to sustainable citrus growing goes through improvements in the tools to manage the orchard in order to maintain its health, in synch with new, latest innovation in production trends, with efficient use of natural resources and which are less impacting on the environment. Aware of such demand, Fundecitrus has looked in all its lines of research for new ways of helping citrus growers to maintain their orchards producing with cost efficiency and not adversely affecting the environment.

BIOLOGICAL CONTROL AND PHEROMONE

Fundecitrus approach concerning that strategy started in 1996, when a big surge of citrus fruit borer – a moth whose caterpillar penetrates the fruit and may cause significant crop losses – led the research to look for alternatives that could inhibit the advance of that pest. Researchers studied the insect’s habits, described its life cycle and were able to isolate its sex pheromone. The effort resulted in a trap, available to citrus growers since 2001, which is a low-cost, high-efficiency tool to monitor the fruit borer. A recent study by the “Luiz de Queiroz” Agricultural College (Esalq/USP) reported that the use of such trap prevented losses from US$132.7 million to 1.32 billion from November 2001 to 2013.

Also in 1996, another pest – the citrus leafminer – started causing serious problems to citrus growing due to its influence on the severity of citrus canker. Keeping up with its search for low-cost and low environmental impact tools, Fundecitrus oriented its efforts towards a fast and efficient solution. Studies were conducted regarding the feasibility of importing Ageniaspis citricola wasp, a leafminer parasitoid, from the US. By mid 1998 the first lot of this parasitoid, arrived in Brazil. After the quarantine procedure, the little wasps were reared in large scale and released in 200 orchards from 60 municipalities of Sao Paulo State. Tamarixia radiata, a natural enemy of the Asian citrus psyllid (Diaphorina citri), vector of the bacteria associated with HLB (huanglongbing/greening), is the newest sustainable tool used by Fundecitrus to fight against the world’s main citrus disease. The little wasp uses the psyllid nymphs to reproduce, by laying its eggs below them, so that later, it will become food to the larvae when they eventually hatch. In May 2015, Fundecitrus started its biofactory in Araraquara-SP. The T.radiata production of this lab is around 100.000 wasps per month, which are released at locations such as backyard or abandoned orchards, rural and urban areas. The goal is to reduce the psyllid population at their breeding grounds in a sustainable manner to avoid their migration to orange orchards.

A research developed by Professor Jose Postali Parra’s team, from Esalq/ USP, with Fundecitrus support, showed that in areas where Tamarixia radiata was released, there was an average reduction of 70% in the psyllid population, reaching peaks higher than 90%.

NATURAL INSECTICIDES

Insecticides with natural compounds are another sustainable-control alternative. In this respect, Fundecitrus is developing a bioinsecticide and a botanical insecticide to control the psyllid. The bioinsecticide is based on an entomopathogenic fungus (which causes disease to insects). After four years of research developed in partnership with Esalq/USP and Koppert, the product is being field tested, with initial results showing 80% efficiency in controlling the psyllid. The botanical insecticide, developed in association with Embrapa Acre, is an essential oil extracted from a plant known as spiked pepper. This plant produces a compound named dillapiol and has shown, in lab tests, to have good potential to control the psyllid.
With the arrival of HLB in Sao Paulo, in 2004, citrus growers saw their costs soar with sprayings. Also, at that time, Fundecitrus started its research on the technology application against the psyllid, aiming to reduce up to 70% of insecticide and water for this pest control. Additionally, the institution has maintained for several years a team dedicated to training growers and visit citrus farms to teach them how to correctly adjust spraying equipment to avoid waste.

SUSTAINABLE FUTURE

The trend is that the citrus industry will increasingly use technological innovations in the future, with focus on sustainability, and wiser, cheaper, and more natural strategies, such as pheromones, to help both: to monitor the insects and to attract and kill them. Another strategy is the study of repellence by odors or physical pest control. As a long-term strategy, researchers are also searching for plants – either citrus or other crops which may be inter-planted with orange trees – that are disease-resistant or pest-repellent.
“No matter the pathway to be taken, all Fundecitrus researches are earmarked for improving citrus growing with increasingly more natural and intelligent measures”, affirms the institution’s manager, Juliano Ayres.

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]]> http://sustainablejuice.com/2017/02/citrus-growing-in-times-of-sustainability/feed/ 0 http://sustainablejuice.com/2017/02/preserved-native-vegetation-covers-61-of-brazil-says-embrapa/ http://sustainablejuice.com/2017/02/preserved-native-vegetation-covers-61-of-brazil-says-embrapa/#comments Fri, 10 Feb 2017 15:46:25 +0000 http://sustainablejuice.com/?p=480 A study from the Strategic Territorial Intelligence Group (GITE, in Portuguese) of the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (EMBRAPA, in Portuguese) found out that the preserved native vegetation covers 61% of the entire Brazilian territory.  According to the group coordinator, Mr. Evaristo Miranda, from the 850,280,588 hectares that make up the Brazilian territory, 11% of native vegetation areas are in rural properties, such as legal reserves (LR) and permanent preservation areas (APPs, in Portuguese). Another 17% of native vegetation are in conservation units. Now, 13% of native vegetation are in indigenous lands and 20% in vacant lands, relief, inland waters etc., which amounts to 61%.

These data, according to GITE coordinator, was updated at the end of last year by EMBRAPA, based on information from the institution itself, from other public agencies and private initiatives, such as: The Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE), the Brazilian Confederation of Agriculture and Livestock (CNA), the Ministry of Environment, the National Indian Foundation (FUNAI), the National Water Agency of Brazil (ANA) and the Ministry of Planning, Development and Management (MPOG).

The other 39% of the Brazilian territory, according to EMBRAPA’s survey, are distributed among the areas occupied by 8% of crops and planted forests; 19.7% of pastures, and 11.3% of cities, macro-logistics, infrastructure, energy, mining and others.

“In these 8% of cultivated areas are all the sugar cane, reforestation, grains, citriculture, in other words, everything that we plant. This size of agriculture, that worries the world and that does a lot of stuff covers only 8% of the Brazilian territory”, the researcher highlighted.

The researcher explains that when added to the area of agriculture and livestock, and also the areas of preserved native vegetation within rural land, the rural properties represent a total of 38.7% of the national territory.

Mr. Miranda also recalled that Brazilian farmers work based on one of the most stringent and restrictive environmental laws in the world and he cited, for example, the riverbanks, which in Brazilian legislation are defined as APPs, where cultivation is prohibited.

“This is something that EMBRAPA did when the Forest Code was still being discussed. In El Salvador, the riverbank areas are totally occupied by small and large producers. In Costa Rica everything is occupied with crops and bananas. In Mexico, on the banks of the Papaloapan river, the areas are fully cultivated. They are alluvial deposits. The river side is the best place there is to plant. Civilization developed by cultivating alongside the rivers. It’s how it is in Chile, Argentina, China, Senegal and developed countries as well, along the Rhône river in France; on the Rhine, in Germany; the Po Valley in Italy; the Quadalquivir river, in Spain; the Tagus, in Portugal; the Danube, in Austria and the Lower Rhine in the Netherlands, among others. Brazil, however, preserves, and has to preserve the riverbanks by law. I am not speaking against or defending Brazilian legislation, I am only showing how the Brazilian law is and comparing it with other countries”, he said.

The coordinator of the GITE also stressed that with the new Forest Code, the producer will have to restore many areas. Estimates, according to him, are that from the 8% of the Brazilian territory that is currently used for agriculture, between 35 million hectares and 95 million hectares will be used to restore APPs and LRs.

During the 2012-2013 and 2013- 2014 seasons, the researchers assessed several volumes of spray and copper rates to control citrus canker on trees of sweet orange “Valencia” planted in 2006, with an average canopy volume of 49 m³. Spray volumes were defined based on the tree canopy size, aiming to reduce waste of resources and production costs.

Volumes of 150, 100, 70, and 40 mL of spray mixture/m³ of canopy were tested during two seasons. The last two volumes were also assessed with adjustment of the copper rate. The study assessed the incidence of leaves and fruits with symptoms, premature fruit drop, yield, copper deposits on the leaves, spray coverage and the cost-benefit ratio.

In the first year, the copper-treated plants – regardless of the volume and copper adjustment – showed at the most 5% of occurrence of diseased leaves. Whereas non-sprayed trees showed a peak of 30% of leaves with citrus canker.

In the second year, results were similar to those in the first year, except for the 40 mL/m³ volume with no rate adjustment, which reached 10% of symptomatic leaves, between November and January, when tree flushing coincides with the occurrence of rains.

According to researchers, the lower protection of that treatment was caused by the reduction of product deposits on the tree. In this case, when the rate was adjusted, control was reestablished, showing that the 40 mL volume may be efficient, since the metallic copper rate is adjusted.

“The results show that spray volumes may be safely used by citrus growers. Lower spray volumes and copper rates may affect such control and are still being studied.”, affirms researcher Franklin Behlau.

With this method, citrus growers would save US$ 1.5 in one application, on a 100-hectare area, for example.

Equipment adjustments are required to use reduced volumes of spray, among which the use of spray nozzles that produce fine droplets (150 µm). The sprayer speed must not exceed 5.5 km/h, with a minimum coverage of 30% on the leaves inside the canopy.

According to Fundecitrus researcher Marcelo da Silva Scapin: “The adequacy of application volumes allows savings and reduction of the environmental impact, in addition to increasing the operating efficiency of the equipment”, he affirms.

As an example, if the reduction proposed by the research were applied to the Sao Paulo State citrus belt, which is currently estimated at 462 thousand hectares, if carrying out six applications per crop year, there would be savings of 6.2 billion liters of water, enough to supply the whole city of Sao Paulo for 5 days, or the equivalent to 56 million people for one day. The cost reduction for the whole citrus belt would reach US$ 40 million a year in expenses with equipment, product and labor.

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