In the February episode of the All In For Citrus podcast, Michael Rogers provides an update on activities at the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS) Citrus Research and Education Center in Lake Alfred. He said the beginning of the year is the time when current and future projects are evaluated.

“The months of February and March are full of meetings with our faculty one-on-one where we go over the accomplishments of the past year,” Rogers said. “It allows us to see what’s going on more in-depth about the progress being made in research with each faculty member. There are areas where great progress is being made, but they might need more resources and support to make things happen.”

He added that the emphasis is on keeping research moving forward, especially when it comes to HLB. It’s all hands on deck when it comes to HLB.

Rogers said he has reviewed some very promising work in this year’s faculty evaluations. One project is looking at how the HLB bacterium moves from cell to cell in the tree. Molecules that allow the bacteria to move throughout the plant have been identified. By using techniques like CRISPR, scientists could develop a way to prevent those molecules from having the ability to pass along the HLB bacteria.

Another study he mentioned is a project looking at the HLB tolerance of the Parson Brown orange. UF/IFAS is studying why the variety has this tolerance to the disease. This is useful information in developing future HLB-tolerant varieties.

Also in this episode, UF/IFAS associate professor Davie Kadyampakeni shares the latest information on the work to update citrus nutrient recommendations for Florida’s best management practices program. And Ute Albrecht, UF/IFAS associate professor, discusses what has been learned to optimize trunk-injection applications of oxytetracycline.