THE EXPERIENCE OF HLB MANAGEMENT IN BRAZIL

“FLORIDA CITRUS MUTUAL”

Antonio Juliano Ayres Fundecitrus Nelson wulff Silvio Lopes

Renato Bassanezi Marcelo Miranda

• Citriculture in Brazil

• HLB: History and Current Status

• Factors that Affect the Success of HLB Management

• Nutritional Program: A Beginning

• Research Priorities

• Citriculture Perspectives

80% of the Brazilian production

Citriculture in Brazil and in São Paulo State

78% without irrigation

95% are sweet oranges (mainly for juice) Varieties: Pera, Valencia, Natal, Hamlin …. Rootstocks: Rangpur, Swingle, Sunki, Cleopatra ….

230,000 direct jobs

CHALLENGES ...

The Big Five from Africa

The King of the Five!

The Big Ones in Brazil !

CVC: 38% trees Canker: 1.39% blocks

Leprosis: 26% trees Black Spot: 51% trees

HLB: The King of the Big Five!

HLB in the world in 2003

Diaphorina citri in Brazil : first report in 1942

Costa Lima

HLB in the world in 2004

Symptomatic trees were found in Araraquara in March 2004

July 2004: Candidatus Liberibacter

asiaticus (Las) was detected

A new liberibacter was identified: Candidatus Liberibacter americanus (Lam)

Symptoms on Young Trees

Symptoms on Old Trees

Ca. L. americanus More severe symptoms Higher titers

Ca. L. asiaticus Less severe symptoms Lower titers

Ca. Liberibacter americanus and Ca. L. asiaticus found in Murraya exotica (2005)

Teixeira et al.2009, Wulff et al 2008

PCR with primers specific

for Ca. L. asiaticus or

Ca. L. americanus

PCR with primers specific for Phytoplasma of group 16Sr 9

2007: A phytoplasm was found in trees with HLB symptoms but negative for all Liberibacters

Origin of the phytoplasm : Crotalaria juncea - cover crop (December 2008)

0.0

10.0

20.0

30.0

40.0

50.0

60.0

70.0

80.0

90.0

100.0Au

gO

ctDe

zFe

bAp

rJu

nAu

gO

ctDe

zFe

bAp

rJu

nAu

gO

ctDe

zFe

bAp

rJu

nAu

gO

ctDe

zFe

bAp

rJu

nAu

gO

ctDe

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bAp

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nAu

gO

ctDe

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bAp

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nAu

gO

ctDe

zFe

bAp

rJu

nAu

gO

ctDe

z

Ca. L. asiaticusCa. L. americanusFitoplasma

200 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011

Fundecitrus HLB laboratory (n = 58.087):

Evolution of Lam, Las and the phytoplasma from field samples.

Survey HLB management by the TPS Communication program Research Mandatory tree elimination

HLB Mitigation: Main actions

Fundecitrus trained 8,000 inspectors for identification of HLB-affected trees

HLB-affected Trees eliminated:

≥20 million in 8 years

HLB in 2008

% of HLB-affected trees

HLB in 2012

% of HLB-affected trees

64,1

53.4

38.9

24.018.6

12.9

3.40

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

Oct 04 Sep 07 Apr 08 Apr 09 Jul 10 Aug 11 Sep 12

% a

ffec

ted

cit

rus

blo

cks

Source: Fundecitrus

HLB Progress in Sao Paulo State - % affected blocks -

6,91

3.78

1.87

0.870.580

2

4

6

8

10

Apr 08 Apr 09 Jul 10 Aug 11 Sep 12

% H

LB-s

ympt

omat

ic tr

ees

Fonte: Fundecitrus

HLB progress in Sao Paulo - % symptomatic trees -

1.121.36

3.516.08

9,89

0.731.70

2.767.15

14,81

0.070.100.29

0.840,85 0.01

0.060.34

0.681,35 0.04

0.040.39

0.811,78 0.005

0.0010.050.17

0,28

0

3

6

9

12

15

%

CENTER EST SOUTH WEST NORTH NORTHWEST

2008 2009 2010 2011 2012Source: Fundecitrus

West 1.4%

Northwest 0.3%

North 1.8%

Center 9.9%

South 0.8%

Est 14.8%

HLB incidence by region in Sao Paulo State

% A

ffect

ed tr

ees

0.560.91

2.507.01

12,44

0.511.11

2.474.37

8,75

0.840.96

2.054.53

8,79

0.780.83

1.282.43

5,89

0.620.63

2.650.890,89 0.14

0.100.400.370,61

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

%

<10 10 to 50 50 to 100 100 to 300 300 to 500 >500Number of trees in the grove (x 1,000)

2008 2009 2010 2011 2012

Source: Fundecitrus

Incidence of HLB-affected trees by grove size

OK

Regional TPS !

SP - 290 municipalities PR - 83 municipalities MG - 9 municipalities

Insecticide treatments Elimination of symptomatic trees

Healthy young trees from covered, insect-free nurseries

HLB Management

Mandatory covered

Nurseries since 2003

150 million young trees produced in the last 10 years in Brazil

Platform Inspection

New Platform: Better view and labor conditions

Research Project: UFSCAR, Citrosuco e Fundecitrus

Insecticide applications

Positive factors that support HLB control

• Covered nurseries since 2003 • Experience with CVC management and

canker “eradication” • Low HLB incidence: > 93% trees are healthy • Lessons on HLB management from many

growers

0.0

10.0

20.0

30.0

40.0

2004 2005 2006 2007 2008

HL

B-a

ffec

ted

tree

s (%

)

Farm 17 (262,269 trees)Cumulated % from 2004 to 2008: 38.47

40.0

0.01%

0.00%

10.51%

27.95%

0.0

5.0

10.0

15.0

20.0

25.0

30.0

2004 2005 2006 2007 2008

HL

B-a

ffec

ted

tree

s (%

)

Farm 18 (413,108 trees)Cumulated % from 2004 to 2008: 40.12

30.0

0.25%

6.77%

16.30%

16.80%

Farms without HLB management

located near farms without HLB management

Farms with HLB management near farm without HLB management

Large farm and/or

Adult trees

Small farm and/or

Young trees

Farm with HLB management far

from farm without HLB management

0.0

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

1.0

2004 2005 2006 2007 2008

HL

B-a

ffec

ted

tree

s (%

)

Farm 1 (1,349,000 trees)Cumulated % from 2004 to 2008: 0.13

2.02.02.02.02.02.02.02.02.02.02.02.02.02.02.01.0

0.01%

0.04%

0.03%

0.02%

0.03%

0.0

0.4

0.8

1.2

1.6

2.0

2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009

HL

B-a

ffec

ted

tree

s (%

)

Farm 6 (1,880,000 trees)Cumulated % from 2004 to 2008: 2.39

2.0

0.07%

1.56%

0.77%

0.18%

0.0

0.5

1.0

1.5

2.0

2.5

3.0

2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009

HL

B-a

ffec

ted

tree

s (%

)

Farm 7 (449,655 trees)Cumulated % from 2004 to 2008: 3.33

3.0

0.43%

1.89%

1.01%

0.18%

0.0

2.0

4.0

6.0

8.0

10.0

2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009

HL

B-a

ffec

ted

tree

s (%

)

Farm 11 (260,198 trees)Cumulated % from 2004 to 2008: 4.54

10.0

0.00%

0.05%

0.11%

0.42%

3.96%

4.79%

0.0

1.0

2.0

3.0

4.0

5.0

2004 2005 2006 2007 2008

HL

B-a

ffec

ted

tree

s (%

)

Farm 15 (165,069 trees)Cumulated % from 2004 to 2008: 8.42

5.0

0.10%

1.07%

1.95%

1.76%

3.54%

Study of cases

Main factors associated with the success of HLB management by the TPS

Main factors for the success of the HLB management

1) Incidence of the disease at the moment when management was initiated 2) Age of the trees 3) Period of time during which the control measures have been applied 4) Size of the grove 5) Distance from groves without control measures 6) Number of sprays per year 7) Number of inspection per year

Incidence of HLB in the first year of control

Range: 0 to 17.6%

0

10

20

30

40

50

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10Perc

enta

ge o

f sym

ptom

atic

tree

s

Years after the first symptomatic tree was found

HLB incidence at the moment management was started

Size of the grove

Range: 240 to 10,000 ha

72,000 a 3,000,000 trees

Distance from neighboring groves without HLB management

Range: 0 to 5 km

Yearly HLB control program

Inspection Spray Drench Soil Airplane Total cost

US$/ha 4 inspections

5 ground sprays 1 systemic

6 inspections

10 ground sprays 2 systemic 1 airplane

12 inspections

15 ground sprays 3 systemic 2 airplanes

32.21

48.31

96.61

165.64

331.28

496.92

-

26.52

26.52

40.33

40.33

80.65

-

113.06

339.17

238.17

559.48

1,039.86

Costs of management programs

Strategies to maintain high productivity inspite of HLB

• Establishment of groves on large surfaces with high tree density

• Appropriate nutritional and irrigation practices

• More intense efforts on grove borders for psyllid control • Regional HLB management, in particular for the smaller farms

Establishment of groves on large surfaces with high tree densities

Removal of blocks highly affected by HLB

Renovation on large surfaces NEVER BLOCK BY BLOCK !!!

More intense efforts for psyllid control on the grove borders

M.P.Miranda

More intense effort in the borders of the groves

D. citri distribution in groves

Wide-area application at the key moment.

HLB Management

Psyllid bio-control: in urban area

and/or abandoned groves?

Colaboration ESALQ - FUNDECITRUS

Greenhouse for multiplication of D. citri

ESALQ

Laboratory for multiplication of T. radiata

ESALQ

400 parasitoids/ha in 4 different sites

Release in the Field

Reduction of D. citri population

Increased parasitism by T. radiata

Getulina

Pirajuí

Cajobi

Rincão

Mogi Mirim

Tatuí

Itapetininga

3.0x

62,3%

2.6x

86,2%

3.4x

53,3%

10.8x

93,0%

5,3x

59,1%

2,5x

69,6%

7,9x

51,5%

Votuporanga

Release areas of T. radiata

Source: Parra

Nutritional Treatments in an HLB-

affected grove

Scientific Team: D. Mattos Jr., J. A. Quaggio (IAC) J. M. Bové (INRA) R. Bassanezi, A. J. Ayres (Fundecitrus)

Nutritional Treatments in an HLB-affected grove

• Valencia/Rangpur planted in 2002. No Irrigation.

• HLB incidence at start of experiment : 1.8 % (Dec. 2010)

• 4 Randomized Blocks, 3 with psyllid control and 1 without

• 8 Treatments:

T0 = NPK T4 = T1+H3PO3 T1 = NPK+Micro(IAC) T5 = T1+AS T2 = T1+KNO3 T6 = T1+KNO3+Micro2+H3PO3+AS T3 = T1+Micro2 T7 = NPK + “Cocktail”

• Plots: 8 rows x 160 plants = 1280 pl./plot

• Nutritional sprays( 4 times per year):

– 1st Year: Dec/10, Jan/11, Mar/11 and Apr/11 – 2nd Year: Nov/11, Dec/11, Jan/12 and Feb/12

Progress of HLB Incidence from 1.8 % in Dec. 2010 to 10.5 % in June 2012 !

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

INCI

DÊN

CIA

DE H

LB (%

)

Dez./2010 Jun./2011 Jan./2012 Jun./2012

Test-F were not significant for treatments

HLB incidence with and without psyllid control

aC aC aC aC

bB

aB

abB

aB cA

bA

cA

aA

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

18

20

103 104 105 110

INC

IDÊN

CIA

%)

Dez./2010 Jun./2011 Jan./2012 Jun./2012

With: 8.5 %

Without:17.5%

Healthy Tree with the Complete Nutritional

Treatment: Oct. 2012

HLB Symptomatic Tree with the Complete Nutritional

Treatment: Oct. 2012

1st year yield - 2011 (kg/tree) Mean of 4 plots (20 symptomatic and 20 asymptomatic trees per plot)

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

160

180

200N

PK

IAC

(NPK

+ M

icro

)

IAC

+ K

NO

3

IAC

+ M

icro

2(2

xMic

ro +

Mn)

IAC

+ H

3PO

3

IAC

+ S

alic

ilato

IAC

+ K

NO

3 +

Mic

ro2

+ H

3PO

3 +

Salic

ilato

NPK

+ "E

scud

o"

Treatments

Yiel

d (k

g/tre

e)

DiseasedHealthy

a a a a a a a a

b b b b b b b b

Different letters differed by Tukey test (P<0.01)

15% REDUCTION

2nd Year Yield - 2012 (kg/tree) Mean of 4 plots (20 symptomatic and 20 asymptomatic trees per plot)

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

160

180

200

NPK

IAC

(NPK

+ M

icro

)

IAC

+ K

NO

3

IAC

+ M

icro

2(2

xMic

ro +

Mn)

IAC

+ H

3PO

3

IAC

+ S

alic

ilato

IAC

+ K

NO

3 +

Mic

ro2

+ H

3PO

3 +

Salic

ilato

NPK

+ "E

scud

o"

Treatments

Yiel

d (k

g/tr

ee)

DiseasedHealthy

a a a a a a a a

b b b b b b b b

Different letters differed by Tukey test (P<0.01)

44% REDUCTION

Research Priorities

• Inspection Improvement • Systemic insecticides • Low-volume applications • Entomopathogenic fungi • Pheromones • Towards Genetically Modified Citrus

Trees Resistant to HLB

Controled Greenhouse

Biotecnology Lab

Laboratory for Volatiles Studies

Perspectives for the São Paulo State Citriculture

• North, Northwest, West and South regions are less affected regions and are eligible for HLB management by the TPS

• Regional HLB managment by the TPS should be extended

On the long term, the Paulista citrus industry will depend not only on genetically modified citrus (GMC) trees, but also on regular, non-GMC trees from large areas where HLB is well under control !

THANK YOU