A formal citrus insect pest survey was conducted in two citrus growing districts of Kenya, Bungoma and Machakos, to determine important insect pests of citrus and evaluate the pest control practices used by small-scale farmers. Observations were made on the insect pests and their damage, methods of pest control practiced, pesticide products used, sources of farming knowledge and how decisions t...

Citrus is one of the most cultivated fruits in the world, and satsuma mandarin (Citrus unshiu Marc.) is a major cultivated citrus in Japan. Many excellent cultivars derived from satsuma mandarin have been released through the improvement of mandarins using a conventional breeding method. The citrus breeding program is a lengthy process owing to the long juvenility, and it is predicted that mark...

A machine vision system for estimating number of citrus fruit drop was developed in this study. The objectives of this study were to design rugged hardware, to develop an image processing algorithm for accurate estimation of fruit count and to conduct field experiments. Image acquisition hardware was developed to be used in a commercial citrus grove specifically for unfavorable imaging conditio...

Asian citrus psyllid, Diaphorina citri Kuwayama (Hemiptera: Liviidae), is the vector of huanglongbing (HLB or citrus greening disease). Preferences of D. citri adults differed for HLB-infected and healthy citrus under different maturity conditions. The presence or absence of young shoots had a significant influence on the choice by D. citri adults between HLB-infected and healthy citrus hosts. ...

Diaphorina citri Kuwayama (Hemiptera: Psyllidae), vectors the bacterium Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus, one of the causal organisms of the devastating citrus disease "huanglongbing" or citrus greening. In the United States, D. citri was first discovered in Florida, in 1998. Tamarixia radiata Waterston (Hymenoptera: Eulophidae) was imported from Asia and released in Florida in 1999-2001 to im...

Citrus huanglongbing (HLB), caused by three species of fastidious, phloem-limited 'Candidatus Liberibacter', is one of the most destructive diseases of citrus worldwide. To date, there is no established cure for this century-old and yet, newly emerging disease. As a potential control strategy for citrus HLB, 31 antibiotics were screened for effectiveness and phytotoxicity using the optimized gr...

Satsuma mandarins (Citrus unshiu Marc.) are the predominant cultivated citrus variety in Japan. Clarification of its origin would prove valuable for citrus taxonomy and mandarin breeding programs; however, current information is limited. We applied genome-wide genotyping using a 384 citrus single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) array and MARCO computer software to investigate the satsuma mandarin...

Extreme weather conditions with negative impacts can strongly affect agricultural production. In the Danjiangkou reservoir area, citrus yields were greatly influenced by cold weather conditions and drought stress in 2011. Soil straw mulching (SM) practices have a major effect on soil water and thermal regimes. A two-year field experiment was conducted to evaluate whether the SM practices can he...

Intercropping can reduce agricultural pest incidence, and represents an important sustainable alternative to conventional pest control methods. Understanding the ecological mechanisms for intercropping could help optimize its use, particularly in tropical systems which present a large number of intercropping possibilities. Citrus is threatened worldwide by greening disease (huanglongbing, HLB) ...

The fastidious bacterium causing citrus greening disease occurs in uneven and low concentrations in the sieve tubes of host plants[ A rapid and sensitive assay based on the polymerase chain reaction "PCR# has been developed using the primers derived from the sequences of the cloned DNA fragment of greening fastidious bacterium "GFB# to detect GFB infection in citrus[ One set of the primer pairs...