Citrus greening has been plaguing Florida's citrus industry for years, but a new development with lasers could improve the success of antibiotic treatments. An effective cure has eluded researchers so far, and crop production is declining steadily, but the new approach to the disease is encouraging.
A group of researchers from the University of Florida have been studying a unique application of lasers on citrus leaves. They have found that lasers, when used with the right settings, could greatly improve the success of antibiotic treatments currently being looked into as a way to stop the deadliest plant disease in Florida's history.
The laser beam creates microscopic indentations of approximately 250 μm in diameter. Depending on exposure, the indentation can be as little as a single cell layer deep. The researchers tested two-year-old 'Valencia' orange trees grown in large pots in a greenhouse. They applied test solutions immediately after laser treating the leaves, and examined how far the solutions traveled within each plant using specific fluorescent dyes. Applications of oils on leaf tissue after laser exposure prevented damage.
"For large-scale field applications, a scaled-up and more flexible model of the instrument containing multiple nozzles for the laser light, antimicrobial spray, and wax application is being developed. The overall system offers the added advantage of lower application frequencies and hence reduction in chemical use, a condition that lessens environmental impact," explains Ed Etxeberria, plant physiology professor at The University of Florida's Citrus Research and Education Center.
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