Experimental treatment could save citrus

More funding set to be provided for research

Recent research has been hailed as a potential breakthrough when it comes to preventing citrus disease.

It’s hoped this potential breakthrough will prevent this citrus disease that could possibly wipe Central Valley’s citrus industry from ever happening once and for all.

A researcher at the University of California, Riverside has identified a naturally occurring protein that appears to not only treat infected trees that have the disease but also be used as immunization for trees that have never had it so they won’t get it.

The protein is a peptide found in Australian finger lime trees, which naturally resist the citrus disease. UC Riverside geneticist and molecular biologist Hailing Jin said the peptide has proven to be effective in a lab and in small citrus trees in a greenhouse.

More testing needs to be done to determine if peptide is effective on a wider basis and can be used by growers. And Jim said it could still be years before the treatment is finally used.

But Invaio Sciences, who has an exclusive worldwide license to the peptide, could accelerate the regulatory process for the treatment to be approved.

The disease is the wellknown citrus greening disease known as Huanglongbing or HLB, which has devastated Florida’s citrus industry. The disease has also been found in Los Angeles and Orange Counties, but not in the Central Valley. But those in the industry say it’s not a matter of if but when the disease makes it here.

The Asian citrus psyllid is the only insect know to carry the disease and has been spotted all over the Valley.

California Citrus Mutual, the trade association that works on behal of citrus, has helped to fund Jin’s research.

CCM president and CEO Casey Creamer told the Bakersfield Californian the citrus industry is

“A lot of things work in the lab and don’t work out in the field,” Creamer told the Californian. “You never know what’s going to work until it actually does.”

Efforts to protect the Central Valley from HLB have worked so far, but there’s still concern. “I think we’ve exceeded the expectations on how long we could manage keeping it out of the commercial groves,” Creamer told the Californian. “I’m still (optimistic) that we’re going to be successful in this battle. The suppression of the psyllid is a sign of that.”

Jin told the Californian she’s been working on an HLB cure for close to 10 years. When she learned certain citrus trees tolerate HLB, she focused her research in that area.

The University of California, Davis contributed infected orange trees, lemon trees and root stalks. The ones treated with the peptide improved dramatically in experiments that extended up to 1 1/2 years, Jin told the Californian.

“The new flesh and the new leaves are green and healthy,” she said.

She told the Californian the treatment which would also be a vaccine, can withstand temperatures of up to 130 degrees. The treatment would be sprayed on trees.

The race is now on for the peptide if proven to be the cure to be approved before HLB reaches the Central Valley. Approval from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency would also eventally be needed.

“I hope we can be fast enough before the disease ... reaches the Central Valley,” Jin said.

FUNDING FOR RESEARCH

$69.5 million for citrus research through the U.S. Department of Agriculture and other federal agencies continues to move closer to being approved. Much of that funding will go to the Central Valley. A bipartisan letter was sent to the House of Representatives Committee on Appropriations asking for the funding. If approved by the U.S. Senate and signed into law by President Trump, the funding would be awarded.

The funding provides $61 million for the USDA’S Citrus Health Response Program and $8.5 million to the HLB Multi-agency Coordination Group

“Continuing to farm in the Central Valley will require two things: Plentiful water and the best research and technology available,” said U.S. Rep. T.J. Cox-d, who was among the authors of the bipartisan letter sent to the Appropriations Committee in March. “We have secured funding to help citrus farmers stay ahead of the curve and produce food and jobs for the Central Valley. With this funding for citrus research we can make sure our citrus farmers and farmworkers are safeguarded from diseases that can ruin Valley crops.”