Home Industry News Citrus NIFA Invests $21.7M in Emergency Citrus Disease Research and Extension

NIFA Invests $21.7M in Emergency Citrus Disease Research and Extension

USDA-NIFA’s Emergency Citrus Disease Research & Extension (ECDRE) program brings the nation’s top scientists together with citrus industry representatives to find scientifically sound solutions that combat and prevent citrus greening (HLB)​ at the farm-level. For the first time in the program’s history, NIFA is supporting an HLB-focused Coordination Network (CN) Project led by an interdisciplinary team of scientists representing all three major citrus producing states. This CN project will benefit the US citrus by providing a much-needed synthesis of existing HLB research in an easily accessible online database as well as developing region specific decision support tools for citrus industry stakeholders, the HLB-research community, and research organization administrators.

Among the funded research includes virus-induced gene silencing at UC Davis using insect specific viruses to manipulate psyllid as a strategy to control HLB in citrus. Read about all the funded research projects HERE.

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