Development of sustainable control strategies for citrus under the threat of climate change for the prevention of HLB entry into the EU: the Italian experience (LIFE18 CCA/ES/001109)

Citrus are vulnerable to Huanglongbing (HLB), a disease caused by a bacterium that is spread by insects. One of these vector insects, the African citrus psyllid (Trioza erytreae), already reached Spain and Portugal. The disease, present in different citrus growing areas but not in Europe, is difficult to be controlled. In fact, currently no effective cure is available and control measures have a high negative environmental impact. Life Vida for Citrus is a European project aiming at defining preventive and sustainable strategies for the disease control; also, their effects under the context of climate change are considered. The goals of the project are to: i) contribute to the development of sustainable practices for citrus production; ii) test some new citrus rootstocks pending to be evaluated for their tolerance to HLB and to environmental constraints in the Mediterranean region. Different sustainable management protocols of citrus are currently evaluated in Sicily, and their long-term effects onto insect biocenosis and soil microbiome are monitored. © 2022 International Society for Horticultural Science.