Protocol for Successful Transmission of 'Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus' from Citrus to Citrus Using Diaphorina citri.

A protocol to successfully transmit the huanglongbing (HLB) pathogen, 'Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus', between citrus plants by using the Asian citrus psyllid (ACP) and an alternative way to help growers control ACP are proposed. Best results were obtained when pathogen acquisition by adults reared on fully symptomatic 'Ca. Liberibacter asiaticus'-positive plants, latency, and inoculation occurred at ambient air temperatures ranging from 24 to 28°C and when a single infective adult ACP was confined for 7 days on soft, newly developing vegetative shoots (stages v2 to v4). No infection resulted from confinement of infective ACP adults on mature leaves (stage v6). Under the described conditions, single ACP adults could successfully transmit 'Ca. Liberibacter asiaticus' to an average of 56.5% (35 to 83%) of plantlets with v2 to v4 shoots growing in 0.3-liter tubes and to 80.5% (76 to 86%) of plants with v2 to v4 shoots growing in 4.7-liter pots. The use of single insects and plantlets reduces labor, space, and other resources necessary to undertake transmission tests. It also reduces time needed for transmission studies and should help accelerate research on HLB. The results were used to develop an index for favorability to infection (IFI) to determine orchard vulnerabilities to 'Ca. Liberibacter asiaticus'. The IFI is based on the heterogeneous population of new shoots that occurs on tree canopies and may offer alternative or complementary alternatives to the laborious and costly insect surveys currently used in most instances to determine threshold levels for insecticide applications.