GOCITRUS Webinar successfully held: Innovation in citrus varietal identification and management

On September 8, 2020, the GOCITRUS Webinar: Innovation in citrus varietal identification and management, which was aimed at showing the progress of this innovative project. The event brought together more than 150 representatives of the citrus sector belonging to companies, research centers, universities and the Administration itself. The meeting was inaugurated by Isabel Bombal, general director of Rural Development, Innovation and Agri-Food Training of the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, who stated that “Spain was the country with the most initiatives programmed and effectively granted in the previous call and GOCITRUS is a good example of how companies in this sector are capable of providing innovative solutions to complex problems”. Likewise, Bombal also wanted to highlight the role “integrator” of the biotechnology platform that has managed to connect all the members of this consortium, BIOVEGEN and the role of Anecoop, which coordinates it.

The project, started in January 2020, represents to a certain extent the natural development of the largest varietal genomic research ever carried out in citrus fruits - the Citruseq-Citrusgenn project -, which involved a public-private investment of 7.5 million euros. In fact, its current members are almost the same as those then. By virtue of such a mega-study, the sequencing of more than 250 citrus species – some of them 'ancestral' -, rootstocks and varieties was achieved. Today this enormous work, plus contributions from other centers, allows GOCITRUS to have a genomic database that will cover, by the end of this year, a third of the commercial citrus varieties that exist today (83 varieties have already been sequenced, another 24 are in process, out of a total of 324 registered). With this material, in mid-2020 the project will obtain molecular markers to identify without risk of error 25% of the commercial varieties that currently exist in the group of mandarins and 10% of those of oranges, which will include the majority of the protected and commercially most sued. “The basic research developed at Citruseq-Citrusgenn will now allow us to create key tools to promote the Spanish citrus breeding sector, in a differential manner with respect to the rest of the world - which does not have this technology - and to be able to address an intelligent varietal revolution in benefit of the citrus grower and the Spanish export sector”, explained the chief researcher of the project, at the time director of the Genomics Center of the Valencian Institute of Agrarian Research (IVIA), Manuel Talón.

The doctor in biotechnology, current Anecoop Production and Development technician, Victoria Ibáñez, intervened later to provide more details about this technique. Thus, he clarified that molecular markers - which are nothing more than the location of a fragment of the DNA of the variety that is its own and exclusive - have already been implemented and successfully put into practice in the case of the Tango mandarin (registered in the EU as Tang Gold), which is operated by the company Eurosemillas, which is also part of Gocitrus. By virtue of this unequivocal identification, as in the case cited, an entire varietal certification system can be built that not only allows this variety to be distinguished from any other in order to avoid varietal fraud but also “guarantees the traceability of the fruit from the field to the table”. Ibáñez also clarified that this technology is “affordable, applicable to any plant species and samples to verify the marker can be extracted at any time during the development of the plant (seedling, tree)”. And he ventured to specify more data: the time required to obtain such a marker would be only 5 or 6 months; The cost could be between 10,000 and 25,000 euros per variety and, once achieved, the results of the analyzes to verify the authenticity of the citrus in question would only cost an individual (much less a company that carries them out on a large scale to certify the variety that exploits) between 50 and 100 euros.

"Today, to be right in choosing the variety, you have to be up to date, attend conferences where new varieties are presented and their behavior or management is described, consult a multitude of sources to verify that it adapts agronomically to the farm in question...”, Carlos Baixauli, director of the Cajamar Experience Center, began by explaining in the last intervention of the webinar. “With our application, from your mobile phone or tablet, it will only be necessary to enter the parameters of our farm and the program will process all the stored information to select or guide the user about the variety of tangerine/or orange/s and the combination of the portain-jerto that interests you most”Baixauli clarified immediately afterwards.

The APP will therefore process information from a significant plurality of sources and will be updated each campaign. It will contain the information on the IVIA varietal files and the harvest calendar that groups them according to whether they are ultra-early, early, mid-season, late and ultra-late. It will also integrate the average climatic data of recent years from the nearest station and will allow the interested party to determine whether, based on their experience, the plot is especially prone to frost. It will launch, where appropriate, an alert to the user if - due to the location of its land - there is a nearby presence of hybrid mandarin varieties that could promote cross-pollination and the presence of seeds in the fruit. And, as important or more than the choice of the variety, the application will assist the user in choosing the pattern that best adapts to the climatic conditions of the plot, the characteristics of the land (water salinity, limestone, water stress) or will propose updated alternatives if it is necessary to look for patterns that are resistant or tolerant to certain viruses - such as sadness - or fungal diseases. It is even being studied to integrate commercial data, such as the history of quotes from the Citrus Market or a list of certified nurseries where the selected material can be purchased.

Event schedule:

5:30 p.m. Presentation

• Isabel Bombal Díaz. General Director of Rural Development, Innovation and Agri-Food Training. Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food.

5:40 p.m. Presentation of the innovative GOCITRUS project

• Manuel Talon. Director of Genomics Center – IVIA

6:00 p.m. Unequivocal identification of commercial citrus varieties

• Victoria Ibáñez. Anecoop

6:20 p.m. GOCITRUS APP

• Carlos Baixauli Soria. Cajamar Experience Center.

6:40 p.m. Discussion table. Participation of all GOCITRUS partners

7:00 p.m. Closure