Citrus Greening Trials10 Jun 2020 11:08
I have been doing some research on the Cirtus Greening Trials. First take a read of this from Pharm to Farm from 1st June.
The global production of citrus fruit is estimated to be over 1115.6 million tons per year, with the USA producing 8 million tons, at an estimated value of over $3.3 billion. However, these numbers have been in steady decline since 2011. Huanglongbing, commonly referred to as Citrus Greening, is one of the contributing factors to the demise in citrus production; devastating citrus crops around the world, with no known cure, once the trees. It not only affects tree health but also fruit development, ripening, quality of citrus fruits, and juice. To control the spread of this disease, farmers are forced into removing and incinerating the trees once infected.
Pharm2Farm are trialing their proprietary nano-technology with citrus farms in both the UK and USA in an effort to hold this citrus greening epidemic. Preliminary studies have shown that zinc can kill off the Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus bacteria associated with citrus greening, something unachievable with current commercial bactericides. Pharm2Farm’s technology enables the zinc to be applied as drench or folia spray to the plant, effectively and efficiently translocating the zinc to the site of infection. This new nSitu technology will sit alongside the Pharm2Farms growing toolbox of nano-agritech designed to support commercial farmers around the world.