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ARS Home » Southeast Area » Fort Pierce, Florida » U.S. Horticultural Research Laboratory » Subtropical Plant Pathology Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #341688
Title: Huanglongbing solutions and the need for anti-conventional thought

Author
item Gottwald, Timothy
item McCollum, Thomas

Submitted to: Journal of Citrus Pathology
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 11/28/2017
Publication Date: 12/7/2017
Citation: Gottwald, T.R., McCollum, T.G. 2017. Huanglongbing solutions and the need for anti-conventional thought. Journal of Citrus Pathology. 4(1):36952.

Interpretive Summary: The publication is prepared as a brief popular article for the Newsletter of the Phytosanitary Association of Northeastern Argentina, and informational publication for Argentine citrus growers. The article was request by the Journal has an overview of the opening presentation given by the author at the International Research Conference on Huanglongbing in Orlando Florida in March 2017. The article briefly discusses huanglongbing disease of citrus and its severity worldwide and how the disease quickly multiplies and spreads. The author presents some of the latest scientific concepts and research directions on the disease in its complexity. The spread of the disease and reproductive rate are compared relative to other plant diseases and human diseases to put it into perspective. The disease is caused by a bacteria that is vectored by a small insect, the Asian citrus psyllid. The means by which the psyllid transmits the bacterium from one generation of the insect to the next ‘intergenerationally’ similar to human gut bacteria is explained and used to demonstrate how the insect interacts with the disease to spread it so quickly. The article briefly presents several of the current research directions to control the disease and the need for deep scientific thinking and innovation to find a cure, as well as the role of early detection and response in reducing disease replication and spread. The article is meant to be thought-provoking for both researchers and growers and presents alternative ways of looking at the disease and its interaction with citrus.

Technical Abstract: Short popular article for Newsletter of the Phytosanitary Association of Northeastern Argentina. No technical abstract associated or needed.