Subtropical Insects and Horticulture Research Site Logo
ARS Home About Us Helptop nav spacerContact Us En Espanoltop nav spacer
Printable VersionPrintable Version     E-mail this pageE-mail this page
Agricultural Research Service United States Department of Agriculture
Search
  Advanced Search
 
Programs and Projects
Subjects of Investigation
 

Research Project: IPM TECHNOLOGIES FOR INSECT PESTS OF ORCHARD CROPS

Location: Subtropical Insects and Horticulture Research

Title: Evaluation of management programs for protecting young citrus plantings from huanglongbing

Authors

Submitted to: HortScience
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: January 18, 2013
Publication Date: March 25, 2013
Citation: Hall, D.G., Gottwald, T.R., Stover, E., Beattie, GA. 2013. Evaluation of management programs for protecting young citrus plantings from huanglongbing. HortScience. 48:330-337.

Interpretive Summary: Huanglongbing (citrus greening disease) is a devastating disease of citrus associated in North America with the bacterium ‘Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus’ vectored by the Asian citrus psyllid. Psyllid management is considered a vital component of a program aimed at reducing the incidence and spread of huanglongbing. Considerable research had been published comparing the efficacy of different insecticides for psyllid control as well as on seasonal strategies for applying psyllid insecticides. However, published information was largely lacking for even the most intense insecticide programs on their effectiveness for keeping the disease out of a new citrus planting in Florida citrus. Two experiments were therefore conducted on protecting young citrus from the disease using different psyllid management programs. The combined results of the two experiments indicated that up to eight monthly pesticide treatments per year applied on a calendar schedule were ineffective for preventing young citrus from becoming diseased.

Technical Abstract: Asiatic huanglongbing (HLB) is a devastating disease of citrus associated in North America with the bacterium ‘Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus’ (LAS) vectored by the Asian citrus psyllid (ACP), Diaphorina citri Kuwayama. ACP management is considered a vital component of a program aimed at reducing the incidence and spread of HLB. Considerable research has been published comparing the efficacy of different insecticides for ACP control as well as on seasonal strategies for applying ACP insecticides. However, published information was largely lacking for even the most intense insecticide programs on their effectiveness for keeping HLB out of a new citrus planting in Florida citrus. We therefore conducted two experiments on protecting young citrus from HLB using different ACP management programs. An intensive insecticide program was evaluated in each experiment: eight annual calendar applications of traditional insecticides (hereafter referred to as the ‘complete’ program). In one experiment, citrus was either planted alone and subjected to the complete program or citrus was interplanted with orange jasmine, Murraya exotica L. (a favored ACP host plant), and subjected to a reduced insecticide program (4 calendar sprays of traditional insecticides). There was one set of plots in which both jasmine and citrus were treated with insecticides and one set in which jasmine was not treated at all. In the second experiment, citrus was either subjected to the complete program or to one of two other programs: a reduced insecticide program consisting of five calendar applications of traditional insecticides or a mineral oil program (oil applications every three weeks plus one dormant insecticide spray). The results of the two experiments were similar. Relatively good ACP control was achieved under each ACP management program during the first year but, as the experiments progressed and trees increased in size, ACP outbreaks occurred regardless of the psyllid management program. Little HLB developed under any ACP management program during the first year, but thereafter HLB increased and large percentages of the trees in each experiment became LAS-infected in less than two to three years. The combined results of the experiments indicated that up to eight monthly pesticide treatments per year applied on a calendar schedule were ineffective for preventing young citrus from becoming diseased. Of probable significance is that the planting where the two experiments were conducted was subjected to a minimal psyllid management program and contained many older trees known to be infected by the HLB pathogen, thus the ACP management programs we evaluated might have been more effective if ACP in the surrounding areas had been more aggressively controlled and diseased trees in the surrounding areas removed to reduce inoculum loads.

   

 
Project Team
Lapointe, Stephen
Hall, David
Hunter, Wayne
Shatters, Robert - Bob
Patt, Joseph - Joe
 
Publications
   Publications
 
Related National Programs
  Crop Protection & Quarantine (304)
 
Related Projects
   REPELLENTS AND ATTRACTANTS FOR ASIAN CITRUS PSYLLID
   ASIAN CITRUS PSYLLID ATTRACTANTS AND REPELLENTS
   SPEEDY EVALUATION OF CITRUS GERMPLASM FOR PSYLLID RESISTANCE
   TARGETING THE ASIAN CITRUS PSYLLID (ASCP) FEEDING MECHANSIM AS A MEANS OF BLOCKING PSYLLLID FEEDING ON CITRUS
   DEEP SEQUENCING OF DIAPHORINA CITRI
   DEVELOPMENT OF CDNA MICROARRAYS FOR GENE EXPRESSION RESEARCH IN FLORICULTURAL CROPS
   COMBINATORIAL LIBRARY SCREENING FOR PSYLLID DISRUPTION MOLECULES
   ATTRACT AND KILL TECHNOLOGY TO CONTROL CITRUS LEAFMINER IN CITRUS NURSERIES AND ORCHARDS
   ASSESSMENT OF A MECHANICAL SAMPLING DEVICE FOR ASIAN CITRUS PSYLLID
   CHEMICAL ECOLOGY OF THE MEXICAN BROMELIAD WEEVIL AND ITS PARASITOID, LIXADMONTIA FRANKI
   COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH ON THE CITRUS LEAFMINER, PHYLLOCNISTIS CITRELLA
   SEMIOCHEMICAL-BASED TECHNOLOGY FOR CONTROL OF CITRUS PESTS
   DEVELOPMENT OF NOVEL INSECT CONTROL STRATEGIES BASED ON RNAI AND INSECT DETERRENT PROTEINS FOR INSECT PESTS OF CITRUS
   VIRUS OF HEMIPTERANS: LEAFHOPPERS AND PSYLLIDS
   PATHOGENS OF INVASIVE INSECTS
   SEMIOCHEMICALS FOR CONTROL OF CITRUS LEAFMINER AND CITRUS CANKER DISEASE WITH APPLICATION FOR CONTROL OF ASIAN CITRUS PSYLLID AND HLB
   INTERDISCIPLINARY APPROACHES TO ADVANCE CITRUS DISEASE RESEARCH & PRODUCT DVLPMT TO ENSURE THE SUSTAINABILITY OF THE NATL CITRUS INDUSTRY
   DEVELOPING A PHLOEM PENETRATION/ANTIMICROBIAL TREATMENT TO REDUCE/ELIMATE CANDIDATUS LIBERIBACTER FROM EXISTING CITRUS TREES
   DETERMINATION OF ATTRACTIVE HOST PLANT VOLATILES AND SEX PHEROMONES OF ASIAN CITRUS PSYLLID USING EAGS AND GC-EAD
   APPLICATION OF AN AGGREGATION PHEROMONE FOR MANAGEMENT OF THE DIAPREPES ROOT WEEVIL
   Rear and Release Psyllids as Biological Control Agents-An Economical and Feasible Mid-Term Solution for Huanglongbing (HLB) Disease
 
 
Last Modified: 05/23/2013
ARS Home | USDA.gov | Site Map | Policies and Links 
FOIA | Accessibility Statement | Privacy Policy | Nondiscrimination Statement | Information Quality | USA.gov | White House