A UF/IFAS researcher maintains that two micronutrients could prove helpful in treating citrus trees affected by citrus greening.
Citrus greening, also known as HLB, continues to take its toll on the Florida citrus industry, and the search is still on for a cure or workable treatment. According to University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS) researcher, Jude Grosser, a small study he conducted indicated that micronutrients manganese and boron could be useful in helping citrus trees affected by citrus greening. See the details below from a CitrusIndustry.net article, below.
Micronutrients Helping Fight HLB
Grosser did his experiments in a greenhouse setting a few years ago, according to the article. He “overdosed” sweet oranges infected with citrus greening and measured the results. “It looked like … manganese had the biggest effect on growth of the feeder roots. We got bigger and more robust root systems with an overdose of manganese. And boron also looked interesting, not quite as much as manganese,” he was quoted as saying in the article.
Additional field tests showed similar results, according to Grosser. “We found that the overdose of manganese at three times the normal level is actually showing to be therapeutic.” The article maintained that about four times the normal levels of the micronutrients manganese and boron seemed to have a positive impact during this small study, but the benefits stopped increasing at that point. “The growers that are experimenting with constant supplies of the micronutrients are getting excellent results. Manganese is certainly one of the key micronutrients for dealing with the disease,” Grosser said.
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