The fourth edition of the Florida Citrus Rootstock Selection Guide is available, and its authors say it’s “way more user friendly.”
The University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS) has released the fourth edition of its Florida Citrus Rootstock Selection Guide, and one of its authors, researcher Rhuanito “Johnny” Ferrarezi, maintains that it is much more user friendly than past editions in a Citrus Industry article. Explore the details of the new rootstock selection guide below.
Florida Citrus Rootstock Selection Guide Details
The Florida Citrus Rootstock Selection Guide is meant to help Florida citrus growers to choose the best rootstocks for their groves from those selected by UF/IFAS and U.S. Department of Agriculture plant breeders. Ferrarezi explained that this year’s edition is so user-friendly because it is available as an Interactive Web version, which is called “Expert System.” According to the website, “This system emulates a human expert by systematically sorting information you provide, then determining the best possible recommendation for the given rootstock.”
Users answer questions about features like the grove’s location, horticultural needs, and pest management requirements; it then evaluate available rootstocks that match the grower’s needs and give the top five recommendations based on the information the grower shared.
“Online, you can actually get more out of this,” Ferrarezi said in the article. Factors that the system looks at include yield, tree size, disease and pest tolerance, drainage, and salinity. Ferrarezi maintained the guide “provides new information from years of data collected from the UF/IFAS and the USDA breeders,” and includes information for UFR rootstocks and new Super Sour rootstocks.
Griffin Fertilizer is committed to helping both growers and ranchers make sound agronomic and economic decisions in order to maximize the health of their grove and pasture. As a full-service custom dry & liquid fertilizer blender and crop protection product distributor, we will continue our mission to further advance Florida agriculture. For questions or concerns about your farm or pasture, contact us and one of our team will be in touch.