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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 #364990
Research Project: Mitigating High Consequence Domestic, Exotic, and Emerging Diseases of Fruits, Vegetables, and Ornamentals

Location: Subtropical Plant Pathology Research

Title: Canines can detect trees infected with the bacterium that causes huanglongbing

Author
item Gottwald, Timothy
item GRAFTON-CARDWELL, ELIZABETH - University Of California
item DENISTON-SHEETS, HOLLY - Citrus Research Board

Submitted to: University of California Science for Citrus Health Website
Publication Type: Popular Publication
Publication Acceptance Date: 6/12/2019
Publication Date: 6/12/2019
Citation: Gottwald, T.R., Grafton-Cardwell, E., Deniston-Sheets, H. 2019. Canines can detect trees infected with the bacterium that causes huanglongbing. University of California Science for Citrus Health. Available: https://ucanr.edu/sites/scienceforcitrushealth/Research_Snapshots/Gottwald/.

Interpretive Summary: Dogs have been trained to detect HLB-infected trees [huaglongbing (HLB) is the most severe disease of citrus worldwide] with an accuracy of >95% in commercial citrus orchards and >92% in infected residential properties. Dogs can be used as an early detection method to detect the disease in new areas and for commercial and residential survey. Detection by dogs is consistently months to years earlier than all other detection methods (molecular, serological, chemical) currently known. When deployed in commercial and residential settings, detection was real time requiring about 1-2 seconds per tree and can survey a 10 acre orchard in 1-2 hours depending on the number of diseased trees. When linked with a rapid response, detection by dogs will be a powerful tool which will help minimize disease spread and optimize planting longevity.

Technical Abstract: None-short one page web article.