Greenlife Industry Australia publishes nursery paper on HLB risk in production nurseries

HLB affected sweet orange.

CASTLE HILL, Australia: Australia’s industry body Greenlife Industry Australia (GIA) reports that the country is increasing its biosecurity for an incurable plant disease that has crippled Citrus-producing regions around the world and is posing an ever-growing threat to the local Citrus industry.

Huanglongbing (Chinese for yellow shoot disease), or HLB is a lethal, rapidly spreading, bacterial disease of Citrus which was first reported in China in 1943.

Currently, it is not found in Australia, however HLB is endemic in many of Australia’s northern neighbours. HLB has the potential to affect all species and cultivars of Citrus including orange, grapefruit, mandarin, cumquat, lemon, lime, pomelo, trifoliate orange, tangelo, native citrus and orange jasmine (Murraya spp.).

GIA has published a nursery paper that provides information to growers about HLB’s symptoms and methods to prevent its arrival in our country. Downlead it HERE