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Southwest Florida Research & Education Center

Southwest Florida Research & Education Center

CITRUS PATHOLOGY

Ozgur Batuman

Assistant Professor, Ph.D

Citrus Pathology

obatuman@ufl.edu

Dr. Batuman joined the center in early October 2016. Before coming to the SWFREC, he was a project scientist in the Department of Plant Pathology at the University of California-Davis. There he worked on thrips population dynamics and Tomato spotted wilt virus (TSWV) incidence in processing tomatoes, peppers, and lettuces in Central California for development and implementation of an integrated pest management strategy for TSWV/thrips control


Citrus disease trends we should heed: Phytophthora, HLB and Leprosis virus

Dr. Ozgur Batuman, UF-IFAS. In this talk, I will remind our growers to continue paying attention to other pathogens that can attack already HLB-weakened trees. Phytophthora or leprosis each can substantially reduce productivity of a citrus tree but when they are co-infecting, it can be fatal. Also, some control measures may not be effective anymore due to HLB-induced complications.

Publication

Development of an IPM Strategy for Thrips and Tomato spotted wilt virus in Processing Tomatoes in the Central Valley of California

Tomato spotted wilt virus (TSWV; species Tomato spotted wilt orthotospovirus; genus Orthotospovirus; family Tospoviridae) is a thrips-transmitted virus that can cause substantial economic losses to many crops, including tomato (Solanum lycopersicum).

Since 2005, TSWV emerged as an economically important virus of processing tomatoes in the Central Valley of California, in part due to increased populations of the primary thrips vector, western flower thrips (WFT; Frankliniella occidentalis). To develop an understanding of the epidemiology of TSWV in this region, .....


The latest from the lab of Dr. Ozgur Batuman

UF/IFAS scientists find viruses that might help control insect that causes citrus greening

IMMOKALEE, Fla. --- University of Florida scientists are working toward establishing a new biological method that may help farmers control the insect that transmits the deadly greening disease into citrus trees. Greening is present in about 95...
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Automated System Would Deliver Chemicals to Help Ward off Citrus Greening

GAINESVILLE, Fla. --- Imagine using a robotic arm to grip and puncture the trunk of a citrus tree to deliver chemicals into the vascular parts of the plant, reducing its susceptibility to the citrus greening disease. Ozgur Batuman, an assistant...
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