"The cooperation between the role-players that attended the 12th Citrus Research Symposium is essential in keeping southern Africa's citrus safe and in demand across the globe," explained Justin Chadwick, CEO of the Citrus Growers' Association of Southern Africa (CGA). "Our industry has a history of keeping the laboratory and the orchards in touch, not just through events like this one, but through continual exchanges."
Currently, the South African government is involved in two historic trade disputes at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) regarding the European Union's citrus import regulations. The cases concern False Codling Moth (FCM) and Citrus Black Spot (CBS), both having been the subject of extensive research to enable effective control.
At the symposium, new research results on FCM were presented by researchers, including a novel FCM detection technique using the analysis of scent, as well as the fine-tuning of postharvest treatments of fruit to eliminate the presence of any surviving FCM larvae.
Highlights on CBS research included a new matrix for CBS risk assessment of individual orchards that can assist growers, while another study identified naturally antifungal compounds in citrus rinds which could become part of an environmentally sustainable remedy for CBS.
Source: BizCommunity