California regulation requires citrus shipments be tarped
Joel Nelsen, president of the California Citrus Mutual, explained that the regulation will prevent the spread of this vector-transmitted pathogen.
“What we discovered is that psyllids were flying towards fruit sitting in trucks and bins as they were being transited from Southern California to the San Joaquin Valley, because of the aromas that the fruit gives off,” he said.
He went on to ensure that the fruit itself was not at risk of transferring the disease, but the insects themselves are drawn to the trucks and if left un-tarped, hitch a ride to spread the disease to healthy citrus plantations.
“What happens is the Asian Citrus Psyllid is attracted to the aroma coming off of the orange, and it flies towards it thinking it’s going to find a food source,” Nelsen said. “Well, it rides around on the orange for a couple of hours, until it figures out that there’s no green waste or twigs attached to that fruit, and then it flies off.”
source: californiaagtoday.com
