| Radio programs for the week of 24 January 2000 (fe00124 - fe00128) | For more
information: Florida Department of Agriculture, Citrus Canker section University of Florida IFAS - Plant Pathology Section - Citrus Canker |
||
Protecting Florida's citrus industry I'm Kevin Pierce with the Florida Environment. Inspectors are still combing through thousands of acres of South Florida lime trees, searching for signs of citrus canker -- a plant disease currently threatening Florida's $20 (m) million dollar lime industry, and placing at risk its $8.5 (B) billion dollar citrus industry... "(Rudd Myrtetus) We're battling bacterial citrus canker -- a highly contagious disease -- that attacks citrus, all varieties, including oranges, sour orange, limes, grapefruit, etc." Vivian Rudd Myrtetus is with Florida's Citrus Canker Eradication Program. And she says the highly contagious citrus canker -- which only effects citrus trees -- requires dramatic eradication measures (Vivian Rudd Myrtetus, citrus canker eradication program, Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services)... "Once trees are infected or confirmed exposed, the trees are then pushed together into a pile essentially, and then burned once they've had an opportunity to dry out. In a residential setting, trees are cut in place to ground level and destroyed." The destruction of infected trees -- hundreds of thousands in past Florida outbreaks -- is necessary because citrus canker has no suitable treatment... "Unfortunately there is no chemical compound or cure for bacterial citrus canker. At the moment, the only way to eradicate the disease is to destroy those trees that are infected or exposed." For more information, visit floridaenvironment.com. With help from its Environmental Studies Program, we're produced at the Whitaker Center at Florida Gulf Coast University and funded by the Southwest Florida Council for Environment Education. |
|||
 fe00125Tropical storms and the spread of a plant disease I'm Kevin Pierce with the Florida Environment. The recent threat to Florida's lime-growing industry posed by the plant disease called citrus canker, may have been aided by last year's tropical storms. Dean Gabriel is a plant pathologist, studying the highly contagious citrus disease (Dean Gabriel, Ph.D., Plant Pathology Department, University of Florida) ... "Florida is the state that's most at risk to canker because of our climate and because of our hurricanes and frequent heavy rains which disperse this disease throughout the citrus growing area." Even one infected tree near a citrus grove is capable of adding bacteria to rainfall which can be spread by tropical winds... "Once it's established, it's been recently shown that canker can spread seven miles in a hurricane type event." Florida agriculture officials are bulldozing and burning citrus trees that have had the disease spread to them, in hopes of killing off the most recent outbreak of citrus canker before it spreads to affect other parts of the state's 8.5 (B) billion dollar citrus industry... "Our climate being very moist as opposed to California's which tends to be very dry and that very much helps this organism to grow, it requires moist warm weather to infect the plant." For more information, visit floridaenvironment.com. With help from its Environmental Studies Program, we're produced at the Whitaker Center at Florida Gulf Coast University and funded by the Southwest Florida Council for Environment Education. |
|||
| fe00126 Personal plants threaten the citrus industry I'm Kevin Pierce with the Florida Environment. Commercial lime groves near Miami are presently threatened with an outbreak of a plant bacteria called citrus canker -- highly contagious and deadly to citrus trees. And while the state's 20 (M) million dollar lime industry faces the threat, Vivian Rudd Myrtetus of the state's Citrus Canker Eradication Project says the problem likely started on an individual level (Vivian Rudd Myrtetus, citrus canker eradication program, Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services)... "Many people like to bring in their own cultural fruits and so forth and its very possible that someone may have brought in an infected fruit or tree without knowing the dangers it could cause." Citrus researcher Dean Gabriel says such a fruit or plant could have entered the state, despite efforts to prevent the transport of infected citrus (Dean Gabriel, Ph.D., Plant Pathology Department, University of Florida) ... "They interdict literally tons of citrus at the Tampa and Miami airports every year -- people bringing it in from overseas -- and some of this is undoubtedly infected with the canker organism." And because the destructive canker is so contagious, it would have only taken one infected tree or piece of fruit to start an outbreak... "(Gabriel) Once it was located in Miami and somebody planted it in their backyard, it was available for spread by windblown rain or by somebody touching it and just transferring it somewhere else." For more information, visit floridaenvironment.com. With help from its Environmental Studies Program, we're produced at the Whitaker Center at Florida Gulf Coast University and funded by the Southwest Florida Council for Environment Education. |
|||
| fe00127 Working on a solution to citrus canker I'm Kevin Pierce with the Florida Environment As Florida's citrus industry watches and waits, state inspectors are investigating the spread of citrus canker in commercial live groves near Miami. Canker is a highly contagious bacteria, deadly to citrus -- which in income is second only to tourism in Florida. At present, infected trees are destroyed, as there is no chemical cure. But citrus researchers like Dean Gabriel are working on growing canker-resistant plants (Dean Gabriel, Ph.D., Plant Pathology Department, University of Florida) ... "...So that the plant becomes resistant to the canker organism... We're basically trying to provide the plant with an immune system, if you will, that will enable it to defend itself against the disease." Gabriel says the genetic engineering of a citrus plant is virtually the same as breeding improvements into animals... "...about the only difference is that we can bring in things from other organisms other than plants and put them into plants." But the genetic engineering holds little hope for the present problem with citrus canker, because of the time it'll take to test a first crop of trees... "That'll take us another couple of years and then we evaluate it for it's efficacy. And if it works as we're hoping it works, then we evaluate it for safety. And after that we begin thinking about getting it out into the market." For more information, visit floridaenvironment.com. With help from its Environmental Studies Program, we're produced at the Whitaker Center at Florida Gulf Coast University and funded by the Southwest Florida Council for Environment Education. |
|||
| fe00128 Citrus canker and personal sacrifice I'm Kevin Pierce with the Florida Environment. As Florida agriculture officials bulldoze and burn citrus trees that have been infected by a plant bacteria, they face an interesting challenge. Although the contagious citrus canker threatens commercial citrus crops, any of the locations where canker is discovered, are residential areas -- personal trees in people's yards. But citrus researcher Dean Gabriel says any occurrence of the bacteria is capable of spreading (Dean Gabriel, Ph.D., Plant Pathology Department, University of Florida) ... "If we don't eliminate it in Miami, then it has the potential -- since it can spread seven to 10 miles in one event -- it has the potential to break out into commercial groves." But the personal value many people place on their trees creates a challenge for state officials tasked with destroying them... "Some of these are 50 year old trees that were planted by somebody's grandfather and they provide shade and they're beautiful. The trunks of some of these trees are like oaks -- they're hard to get your arms around. So people value these very highly." State agriculture officials say they have seen tremendous support from residents with infected trees who recognize the threat they pose... "What are your property rights to protect a 50 year old tree that's not going to die from canker versus you serving as Typhoid Mary for the rest of the state?" For more information, visit floridaenvironment.com. With help from its Environmental Studies Program, we're produced at the Whitaker Center at Florida Gulf Coast University and funded by the Southwest Florida Council for Environment Education. |
