Brazil begins annual survey of citrus HLB, canker, CVC

The fieldwork has started for the annual survey of citrus HLB, citrus canker and CVC, which identifies the incidences and distribution of these diseases in the citrus belt, and involve teams from the areas of PES and technology transfer.

To ensure safe data collection, there will be only one inspector per property, without the need for contact between Fundecitrus employees and those from the visited farms. All employees will follow the prevention and safety protocols recommended by the Ministry of Health in relation to Covid-19.

Due to the pandemic, the survey’s research methodology has been adjusted and will have a smaller number of samples, which will not compromise safety. A thousand plots of main orange varieties were drawn in 12 regions, within four age groups and considering four property sizes. Visual assessments will be made on 11 trees per plot. As in previous years, after the survey, 10% of samples will be audited.

Previous survey

According to the latest survey of diseases in 2019, citrus HLB affects 19.02% of orange trees in the citrus belt of São Paulo and Triângulo/Sudoeste Mineiro. Citrus canker is present in 15.01% of trees and CVC has an incidence of 1.71%.