New High-Tech Way To Hunt HLB

USDA scientists are using a technology known as “Fourier transform infrared-attenuated total reflection” (FTIR-ATR) spectroscopy to rapidly identify with 95% accuracy citrus plant leaves infected with citrus greening.

Physical scientist Gavin Poole and research leader Tim Gottwald from the Agricultural Research Service (ARS) Subtropical Plant Pathology Research Unit in Fort Pierce, FL, collaborated on the use of FTIR-ATR spectroscopy to identify citrus greening in plants with chemist Samantha Hawkins, engineer Bosoon Park, physiologist William Windham, and research leader Kurt Lawrence of the agency’s Quality and Safety Assessment Research Unit in Athens, GA.

The current method for detecting citrus greening-infected trees is a type of DNA testing called polymerase chain reaction (PCR), which is both costly and time-consuming. FTIR uses light to identify chemicals and reactions in a sample. This technology has the potential to detect the disease before visible symptoms occur, and it is cheaper and faster than the DNA testing.

To test for the presence of the disease, researchers removed a leaf from a citrus tree, dried it out in a microwave, and ground it into a powder. A very small sample of the leaf powder was placed on top of an ATR plate. The system clearly distinguished citrus greening-infected leaves from healthy leaves. The scientists say more work will be need to differentiate between leaves infected with citrus greening and those infected with other citrus diseases.

Results of this research were published in Applied Spectroscopy in 2010.

Source: USDA-ARS news