The Conselleria de Agricultura, Desarrollo Rural, Emergencia Climática y Transición Ecológica, within the PRE-HLB Project, “PREVENTING HLB EPIDEMICS FOR ENSURING CITRUS SURVIVAL IN EUROPE” framed within the HORIZONTE 2020 program, held during June 15 and 16, 2021 the second technical workshop, with webinar format, on “THE HLB. PREVENTIVE MANAGEMENT TECHNIQUES”. This course was mainly aimed at technical personnel related to plant health, growers and plant defense associations from Spain, Portugal and other European countries growing citrus, and we have counted with the participation of qualified professionals.

The attendance on June 15 was 217 people connected and 136 on June 16. Below are the details of each of the speakers and a summary of the content of their presentations.

 

HLB Webinar 15th of June

 

The webinar was opened and presented by the Director General of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries, Antonio Quintana Martínez. The presentation of the speakers and the moderation in the questions session was carried out by the Head of Plant Health Service, Vicente Dalmau Sorlí.

The first presentation on June 15 was given by Dr. Leandro Peña, scientific researcher at the Institute of Molecular and Cellular Plant Biology (IBMCP) of the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) and the Polytechnic University (UPV) of Valencia. His lecture dealt with the generalities of the disease and the risks in Mediterranean citriculture.

The second lecture was given by Amilcar Duarte, professor at the Faculty of Science and Technology of the University of Algarve (Portugal). His presentation focused on the management of the vector Trioza erytreae and the prevention measures against the disease carried out in Portugal.

The third presentation was given by Renato Beozzo Bassanezi, Agronomist Engineer, PhD in Plant Pathology and Scientific Researcher of Fundecitrus, a company dedicated to citriculture in Brazil. He dealt with the sanitary management of citrus growing areas (CHMAs) carried out in Brazil.

The fourth and last presentation of the day was given by Dr. Agricultural Engineer Alberto Fereres and dealt with potential vectors, their current situation in Spain and Portugal and the means of control.

At the end of the presentations there was a round table with all the speakers in which the doubts raised by the attendees were solved.

 

HLB Webinar 16th of June

 

The first presentation on June 16 was given by Ana Crespo, agronomist engineer, expert in phytopathology and PhD in mycology of plants and plant products. She is currently the head of the Department of Pathology and Microbial Genetics of the ValGenetics laboratory. Her lecture dealt with detection techniques and specific kits that are being developed within the PRE-HLB project.

The second presentation was given by Luis Navarro, retired research professor from the Valencian Institute of Agricultural Research (IVIA). His presentation focused on the impact of illegal imports and the importance of certification.

The last presentation of this webinar was given by Sara García, PhD in Plant Pathology from the University of California-Davis and agricultural engineer from the Polytechnic University of Madrid. Her presentation focused on the sanitary management of citrus growing areas in California.

Vicente Dalmau, as moderator of the conference, channeled all the doubts that the attendees were raising to the panelists, so that they could be answered during the question time that was established for this purpose.