http://www.pe.com/localnews/inland/stories/PE_News_Local_S_citrus08.38304b8.html
UCR grad to open lab to study citrus pest
07:12 PM PST on Sunday, January 11, 2009
By SEAN NEALON
The Press-Enterprise
A UC Riverside graduate has been tapped to open a laboratory in Riverside where backyard citrus trees will be tested for an insect that threatens California's $1.2 billion citrus industry.
The Citrus Research Board, a Visalia group funded by California citrus growers, has hired MaryLou Polek, a plant pathologist who earned her Ph.D at UCR in 1993. She will lead the fight against Asian citrus psyllid, an insect the size of a pea that can carry a disease called citrus greening.
The disease, which is incurable, has decimated the citrus industry in Florida and other parts of the world. The insect, but not the disease, has been found in San Diego and Imperial counties, leading to a quarantine limiting plant movement in portions of those counties.
"We want to find it early so we can take action and do something about it," said Ted Batkin, president of the Citrus Research Board. "Unfortunately, in Florida, the disease spread throughout the state before they knew about it. As a result, they're losing acreage rapidly."
The board is spending $1.1 million this year to open laboratories in Riverside, San Diego and the San Joaquin Valley to test citrus tree leaves and branches from backyards and nurseries for the disease, Batkin said. Research, in conjunction with UCR professors, will also be done at the Riverside lab, he said.
A lab is planned for the San Joaquin Valley because 85 percent of the state's citrus is grown in the region, Polek said.
The San Diego lab, which will be located at the county agricultural commissioner's office and is expected to open in late January, will test samples taken from the quarantine area, Polek said.
Riverside is getting a lab because the city, Inland area and UCR are linked to citrus, Polek said.
The city grew rapidly after the introduction of the navel orange in the 1870s, and last year more than 21,000 acres of lemons, oranges and grapefruits worth $127.9 million were harvested in Riverside and San Bernardino counties.
The university started as a citrus research station in 1907 and today is home to many leading citrus researchers.
"It's like, the, citrus campus," Polek said.
The Citrus Research Board is searching for a lab location in Riverside and hopes it will open in March, Polek said.
