Project Number: 5310-21000-009-16
Project Type: Specific Cooperative Agreement

Start Date: Jun 29, 2011
End Date: Nov 30, 2012

Objective:
Identify and collect citrus germplasm in Florida threatened by HLB and citrus canker, begin preliminary therapy of germplasm in Florida, ship to the National Clonal Germplasm Repository for Citrus and Dates (NCGRCD), Riverside, CA for final therapy and pathogen indexing, return pathogen testing accession to Florida using “Citrus Passport protocols” following release from quarantine and keep a backup accession in the protected collection at NCGRCD.

Approach:
A committee composed of members from the citrus breeding teams from University of Florida, USDA/ARS, Florida Budwood Program, NCGRCD, and members of the Florida Citrus Production Managers Association, Florida Nurserymans’ Association, and Florida Citrus Mutual would identify and prioritize elite germplasm vital for the short and long term survival of the Florida citrus industry and which is threatened by presence of exotic diseases. A technician, under the supervision of E. Stover, would establish the plants and conduct the thermotherapy at ARS, Ft. Pierce, FL. Personnel from ARS, Riverside and Florida CIP would conduct laboratory testing on plants at Ft. Pierce following the growout after thermotherapy. Once freedom from HLB and citrus canker is confirmed, budwood would be shipped under quarantine to the Repository, Riverside and some to Florida CIP, Gainesville, where shoot tip grafting followed by full biological indexing would be performed. Following release from quarantine, pathogen-tested budwood would be returned to Florida with a plant maintained in the Protected Collection at the Repository. Documents Trust with National Academy of Science (FL Citrus Production Research Council). See Project 5310-21000-009-14T/Log 420097/Agreement 58-5310-1-122