For citrus growers in Florida, the future is uncertain. Two bacterial diseases, named citrus canker and citrus greening disease, have devastated countless acres of trees across the state. For an industry that “generates about $8.9 billion a year,” this is no small issue (“Citrus Greening”). The Florida Citrus Grower’s Association would like to import a landrace of orange discovered in China that is resistant to citrus greening disease and test it in Florida to discover its effects on both citrus canker and greening. Although there are advantages to importing a resistant form of citrus, the risks greatly outweigh the potential benefits, and for this reason, the Association should begin to place its efforts towards the many alternative methods of control that are available.
Citrus canker disease has been causing Florida growers issues for almost one hundred years. The bacterium, Xanthomonas axonopodis pv. citri, came to the United States from Southeast Asia in the early 1900’s. In 1933, after much effort and the destruction of thousands of infected trees, citrus canker was eradicated. However, another strain of canker appeared in 1995. Although the state put forth exhaustive efforts, a heavy hurricane season in 2004 spread the disease even further, and as a result citrus canker was declared unable to be eradicated in 2006 and is now considered endemic to Florida (Schumann and D’Arcy 88). Citrus canker is primarily spread by wind and rain, but can also be spread by contaminated humans or equipment and the transport of infected trees. Infected trees can be identified from the raised cankers on their leaves, stems, and fruit. Although the cankers do not generally penetrate the rind of the orange, the disease makes th...
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...y. "Integrated Approaches for Managing the Asian Citrus Psyllid Diaphorina citri (Homoptera: Psyllidae) in Florida." University of Florida: IFAS. N.p., 2007. Web. 5 Dec 2013. .
Santa Ana, Rod. "Spinach Genes May Stop Deadly Citrus Disease." AgriLife Today. Texas A&M AgriLife, 26 Mar 2012. Web. 5 Dec 2013. .
Schumann, Gail L., and Cleora J. D'Arcy. Hungry Planet: Stories of Plant Diseases. St. Paul: American Phytopathological Society, 2012. Print.
Stover, Ed, William S. Castle, and Peter Spyke. "The Citrus Grove of the Future and Its Implications for Huanglongbing Management." University of Florida: IFAS. N.p., n.d. Web. 5 Dec 2013. .
The government needs to intervene now and stop this practice before the wildlife in South Florida is driven into extinction. The soil of south Florida is not ideal for sugar production therefore this production should be relocated to other parts of the countries with soils that favour...
This management practice is not recommend since it unlikely to control the sclerotinia stem rot in canola field or improve the yield.
The Everglades is a diverse ecosystem located in southern Florida, yet urbanization has created a considerable amount of impact that has altered the physical landscape of the region, resulting in a symbiotic environment between humans and nature. Based on geographical research, the original Everglades spanned an area of approximately 12,000km2, and now because of urbanization and agricultural growth in this sub-region the area of the Everglades has been condensed to half of its original size (Willard et al 1-2). The Everglades is actually a sub-region of the Southern Coastlands region of the United States. It is comprised of a unique climate, divided into sub-provinces that create a diverse pallet of environments for wildlife to thrive, yet the impact of human modifications over a period of decades has drastically effected animal populations, and changed the functionality and physical landscape of its expanse. Despite the differences of urbanization and wildlife, major cities and the ecosystem of the Everglades thrive and fuse together to form the diversely changing landscape of the modern Everglades.
Anderson, P.C., and T.E. Crocker. "The Pecan Tree." Solutions for Your Life: University of Florida IFAS Extension (2004). Web. 18 Apr. 2012.
"Unstoppable plant diseases" do not threaten our world. Crop pestilences are nothing new and have existed all-throughout the thousands of years that humans have grown their own food. In fact, ancient agrarians had it even harder than we do today because they were completely reliant upon rainfall, as they did not have advanced irrigation systems.
In the early 1800s, the French Count Odet Philippe brought citrus trees from the West Indies to Florida (Joyner 3). He decided to plant the first grove ever in the history of Florida in Tampa. Furthermore, Citrus became the reason Florida expanded with settlers. All around the northern tip of Florida there were groves; until Mother Nature made it turn for the worse. In 1894, there was a disaster known as “The Great Freeze.” From oranges to lemons; everything was killed! It took nearly fifteen years for Florida to recover from this tragedy. When the crop finally came back, it was stronger than ever!
Citrus responds readily to nitrogen nutrition. Current and past research shows that if nitrogen is maintained in fall-sampled citrus leaves between 2.4 and 2.6 % on a dry-weight basis for oranges, and between 2.2 and 2.4 % for lemons, a good balance is struck between yield, size and fruit quality. The evidence linking nitrogen to puff, crease, smaller fruit size and staining does exist, but these negative effects are most significant at nitrogen levels greater than 2.6 % nitrogen. Some growers have decreased nitrogen applicati...
Lauffer, H. B., Williams, P., & Lauffer, D. (2012). Wisconsin Fast Plants® Program. Retrieved February 26, 2014, from http://www.fastplants.org
Janick. J. (2011). Center for New Crops & Plant Products - Department of Horticulture and
In plants, a large portion of disease resistance (R) genes code for leucine-rich-repeat (LRR) proteins which have amino-terminals and sites for nucleotides to bind (Falk et al. 1999). In Arabidopsis thaliana, a small flowering plant native to Europe and Asia, the functioning of these R genes is the result of having the Enhanced Gene Susceptibility 1 (EDS1) gene. Without a fully functioning EDS1 gene, the plant is more susceptible to Arabidopsis plant pathogens, such as fungal and bacterial pathogens, and autoimmune diseases (Falk et al. 1999). Therefore, it is critical that the EDS1 gene in Arabidopsis thaliana is present and does not have any mutations that could reduce its effectiveness in resisting pathogens (Østergaard and Yanofsky 2004).
Florida is currently battling the growing issue of polluted water infesting local lake and beach regions. The problem is increasing at an alarming rate. Scientists, environmentalists, and the citizens of Florida are committed to finding a solution that will rid Florida’s pristine waters of toxic algae blooms. Toxic algae blooms pose a threat to Florida’s fresh water, wildlife, and tourism industry.
The species chosen for the plantation are suitable for the conditions as observed from Table 2. There frailties when it come to the susceptibility to Diplodia and this is being countered with the replacement of P.patula with suitable hybrids such as P.patula x oocarpa.
In Taiwan, papaya plants were covered with netting in-order to ensure that aphids had limited access to the crop , therefore resulting in more healthy produce. This proved to be popular as it was effective against the aphids however the quantity of fruit remained high but the quality had degraded as a result of this limitations imposed by the net. The netting comes with consequences both financially and environmentally.
7. Williams, C.N. 1979. Tree and Field Crops of the Wetter Regions of the Tropics,
Oranges are grown in many countries in the world. Some of these countries are: Brazil, the United States of America, China, EU-27, Mexico, Egypt, Turkey, South Africa, Morocco, Vietnam, Costa Rica, Argentina, Australia, Guatemala, Israel, Malaysia, Mozambique, Japan, Brazil, etc. The top three producers of oranges are: Brazil with 16,600 MT, the United states with 7,602 MT, and China with 7,000 MT. These countries contribute greatly to the worldwide production of oranges. Most oranges grow best in moist, tropical/subtropical climates. Oranges require high nitrogen fertilizers to thrive. Most oranges are grown in flat lands or plains. Oranges are require soil that is loose and is very deep. Oranges are able to grow at temperatures ranging from 55 degrees Fahrenheit to 100 degrees Fahrenheit. Orange trees do not produce oranges during the winter months. The average size of a farm in Florida is 195 acres, and it has a total of 9.2 million acres of farmland. The labor force of Florida's orange farms consists mainly of illegal Mexican immigrants. These workers are paid at a rate of 70-90 cents per 90 pound box. They earn less than 75 dollars each day. Some farmers in Florida are turning to machines for cheap labor. These machines are more efficient than the immigrant workers. This decreases the amount of time needed to pick many oranges. These new machines are called "canopy shakers". A company called Southern Gardens Citrus is vertically integrating farms into its company. This company has more than 16,500 acres of groves with 1.8 million orange trees. In order to thrive, orange trees need high levels of direct sunlight. Orange trees can continue to survive with small amounts of shade coveri...