Intercitrus warns that lethal citrus predator is now in the EU

After being detected in Israel last year, Diaphorina citri has now been identified in Cyprus, which should force Brussels to investigate the origin of the outbreak as well as finance and supervise eradication measures. The Asian psylla is more worrying than the African Trioza erytreae, already present in Spain, because it is more difficult to detect, it adapts better to our climate; it is reared in a wider range of temperatures; It develops more easily on Carrizo rootstock, which is the majority in Spain and transmits the most lethal race of the most aggressive Greening bacteria or HLB.

HLB has already devastated citrus farms in Florida and Brazil, which is why Intercitrus calls for investments in research of rootstocks and varieties that are tolerant or resistant as well as controls in the field and at the border.