Brazil: citrus disease 'Greening' reaches 91 communities

Amsterdam - The director of the Sylvio Moreira Citrus Centre, Marcos Antonio Machado, who leads the team responsible for identifying Greening cases in Brazil informed that the disease has spread to 91 communities in Sao Paulo and Minas Gerais. In the United States, according to Machado, American scientists had informed that greening has spread amongst commercial orchards in Florida, in the third week of October.

Greening, or huanglongbing (HLB), is caused by a bacterium, the Candidatus liberibacter, and is transmitted by an insect (the psilídeo Diaphorina citri). It affects all the citrus varieties and is considered the most serious citrus disease worldwide.

The main symptoms are yellowish branches; deformation, reduction and fall of fruits; irregular maturation; loss of leaves; green-clear circular spots on the peel; aborted seeds and greater thickness of the white part of the peel.

Publication date: 27 Oct 2005
Author: Mariana Costa
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