Official websites use. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites. Correspondence: xldeng scau. Huanglongbing HLB is the most harmful bacterial disease in citrus production in the world, and has been seriously ravaging the citrus groves of South China since the s. The surveillance of the epidemiological characteristics of HLB is of utmost priority for citrus production in this region.
In order to explore the effects of disease control measures, analyses on the spaceโtime statistical features of the HLB epidemic, from to , within six orchards in the Guangdong province are presented. Overall, the number of citrus plants in the orchards usually slightly decreased year by year. The reduction was mainly related to the level of plant susceptibility, which is correlated with citrus varieties. The maximum disease severity incidence and race increment was correlated with the awareness of this disease and the management intensity applied by the manager.
A higher disease index was found in the conventional management orchards than in the comprehensive prevention and control orchards. Proper insect-protective screen houses can effectively prevent the epidemic of HLB, without affecting the fruit quality, and can also aid with higher yields. A high correlation was found between the geometry and topography of orchards and the HLB epidemic due to the wind direction from May to September and the Asia citrus psyllid activity characteristics.
For flat orchards, the incidence of HLB in the north and entrance areas was higher than that in the southwest. In the mountain area, the incidence of the windward side in the south was higher than that of the leeward side in the north.
Diseased trees tended to have an edge effect in the grove, whereas the trees of the same disease scale were found clustered in their distribution.
