The primary purpose of this agreement is to support the functions of the citrus clonal protection program (ccpp) at UCR, for the production under quarantine, via therapy and diagnostics, of…

This $923,000 Cooperative Agreement, awarded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), supports the functions of the Citrus Clonal Protection Program (CCPP) at the University of California, Riverside. The primary objective is to produce pathogen-tested, clean citrus germplasm and maintain citrus tree sources for the distribution of pathogen-tested clean plant units (citrus budwood/buds) to the citrus industry, researchers, and the public. Key activities include introducing new citrus varieties under quarantine, testing and eliminating graft-transmissible pathogens, maintaining and re-testing pathogen-free citrus sources, and distributing over 60,000 clean citrus propagative units. The project also conducts extension and outreach on citrus diagnostics, therapy, germplasm, disease management, and novel citriculture technologies. This work supports the APHIS Plant and Animal Disease, Pest Control, and Animal Care Federal Grant Program (CFDA 10.025) to protect U.S. agriculture from economically damaging plant diseases and pests.

The primary purpose of this agreement is to support the functions of the citrus clonal protection program (ccpp) at UCR, for the production under quarantine, via therapy and diagnostics, of pathogen-tested clean citrus germplasm, as well as the maintenance of citrus tree sources for the distribution of pathogen-tested clean plant units (i.e., citrus budwood/buds), from ccpp's foundation facilities, for citrus tree propagation, by producers citrus industry (nurseries and growers), scientists, and the public. The ccpp is operating on six functional pillars: 1. Introduction of citrus varieties under quarantine in the state of california 2. Testing of the citrus varieties' propagative material for graft-transmissible diseases/pathogens 3. Elimination of graft-transmissible pathogens from the propagative material 4. Maintenance and continuous pathogen RE-testing of the sources of the citrus propagative material 5. Distribution of pathogen-tested and true-to-type primary citrus propagative material 6. Extension of scientific information for citrus diagnostics, therapy, germplasm, disease management, and novel citriculture technologies. We expect to introduce and perform therapy on dozens of new citrus accessions. We will perform thousands of diagnostic tests and continue working on the reduction of time for quarantine release. We expect to release from state and federal quarantine 15-20 citrus accessions after completing therapy and testing. Finally, we intend to maintain, RE-test for pathogens and distribute over 60,000 clean citrus propagative units (buds), from over 2,000 budwood tree sources representing over 400 citrus varieties via our online service. The ccpp will also hold its annual extension and outreach events and participate in industry events. This project will provide a safe mechanism for introduction into california and ncpn-citrus of citrus varieties from any citrus-growing area of the world for research, variety improvement, or for use by the commercial industry or citrus enthusiasts, in compliance with state and federal regulations and IT will perform extension and outreach on all topics related to citrus clean plant propagative materials. The impact of the ncpn ccpp project has benefited a diverse group of stakeholders such as citrus nurseries, growers, regulators, and the public.