Grant Information

APPLICATION OF NEW TECHNOLOGIES TO EXPEDITE CLEANING OF NEW ACCESSIONS FOR USE IN FLORIDA

Sponsoring Institution Agricultural Research Service/USDA
Status ACTIVE
Funding Source USDA INHOUSE
Reporting Frequency Annual
Project Director POLEK M
Accession Number 427657
Project Number 2036-21000-010-23R
Dates 2014-09-01 - 2016-08-31
Recipient Organization AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH CENTER

FT PIERCE,FL 33450
Keywords antibiotic
biological
cryotherapy
indexing
pathogen-free
therapy
Research Effort Applied (100%)
Basic (0%)
Developmental (0%)
Classification Parameters
Knowledge AreaSubject of InvestigationField of SciencePercent
202 - Plant Genetic Resources 1050 - Date 1080 - Genetics (excludes breeding) 20%
202 - Plant Genetic Resources 910 - Grapefruit 1080 - Genetics (excludes breeding) 20%
202 - Plant Genetic Resources 920 - Orange 1080 - Genetics (excludes breeding) 20%
202 - Plant Genetic Resources 930 - Lemon 1080 - Genetics (excludes breeding) 20%
202 - Plant Genetic Resources 999 - Citrus, general/other 1080 - Genetics (excludes breeding) 20%
Goals / Objectives
The purpose of this project is to apply the new technologies of cryotherapy and the use of "mini-plant-indexing" to accelerate the cleaning of germplasm accessions for use in citrus breeding in Florida. Transformation trials from field evaluation trials would also benefit. From ongoing projects, we have been able to demonstrate the effectiveness of cryotherapy to eliminate HLB, also citrus viroids and Citrus tatterleaf virus (pathogens which are the most difficult to eliminate using traditional shoot tip grafting). We have also demonstrated the effectiveness of using very young seedling indictors to obtain biological index information within 5 months of sowing the seed ("mini-plant-indexing"), obtaining the same results as using traditional biological indexing requiring 12-14 months after seed sowing. This is a request for funds for technical support to clean priority materials in the Florida breeding program, and to clean prioritized germplasm for Florida that are present in California.
Methods (unparsed)

Year 1: At each location, Florida, California, and Colorado, 30 accessions will be cleaned with cryotherapy. Following recovery from the cryotherapy, plants are grown in vitro on seedling rootstocks for 15 weeks before testing using laboratory based diagnostics for HLB and other graft transmissible pathogens. In vitro clones testing negative will be established in quarantine in Florida and California; in Colorado they will be forwarded under permit to California for establishment. Once the recovered plant has grown to sufficient size, testing will be done as required for release from quarantine in Florida or in California. Young indicator plants will be utilized for biological indexing. We anticipate at least 45 accessions being therapied, indexed and released from quarantine by the end of year 1, with additional accessions in the stream for release early in yr 2. Year 2: At each of the three locations, an additional 45 accessions will be cleaned with cryotherapy, and subsequently indexed by laboratory and biological indexing methods for release.