Funding has been approved for Parson Brown research into the variety’s possible citrus greening resistance.
One of our recent columns in Central Florida Ag News detailed how researchers believed that an old orange variety—Parson Brown—had developed a natural resistance to citrus green, and that research options were being considered. That Parson Brown research has now been funded, according to a Citrus Industry article, so that scientists can investigate if resistance is present and if it can be transferred to other citrus varieties through rootstock use or through another method. See the details below.
Details on Parson Brown Research
“We’ve noticed that there are a number of Parson Brown groves in the state that are doing better than Hamlin groves right next door. We’re wondering why that is,” said Rick Dantzler, the Chief Operating Office for the Citrus Research and Development Foundation (CRDF), in the article. CRDF has committed $53,000 to the research project.
“The challenge is to find the really good Parson Brown clones and focus on those,” Dantzler said in the article. The project is being led by Manjul Dutt, a University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS) researcher at the Citrus Research and Education Center.
Researchers think systemic acquired resistance (SAR) could be behind why Parson Brown trees seem to be dealing with citrus greening better than Hamlins. SAR is when an organism develops its own resistance to a pathogen. Researchers are hoping to better understand how Parson Brown’s resistance can be utilized to combat the disease for all citrus.
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