Gocitrus will have DNA markers in 2021 to identify without possible error a 25% of the mandarin varieties

• An APP will contain all the updated varietal and agronomic information to provide the citrus grower with the best variety-rootstock combination.
• The project has consolidated a citrus genomic database and technology that are unique in the world, which could lay the foundations for creating a future national varietal identification service at the IVIA.

The differentiation between a certain mandarin or orange and another from the same group is still a problem that hinders the development of the Spanish breeding industry, which is dedicated to the research and exploitation of new, more adapted varieties, more profitable for the citrus grower. The authentication of a variety, until recently and still today in most cases, is based on an expert opinion on the known agronomic characteristics of the fruit in question (brix degrees, acidity, leaf shape, fruit morphology...) . It is therefore a non-arbitrary system, based on clearly objective criteria, but expensive, slow and certainly not unequivocal, since it leaves considerable room for the expert's interpretation. The GOCITURS project - an operational group that integrates the main Spanish entities dedicated to the development of varieties, research centers and large exporters - will solve this serious problem by applying new varietal identification techniques based on genomics, which are cheap, quick to execute and reliable to 100%. The project, which is scheduled to end in 2021 and is the most advanced in the world in this field, will provide a second solution to another delicate issue: choosing the best variety. Today there are more than 324 registered but there are only a few, in each case, that meet the producer's needs. GOCITRUS is working on an APP that can be downloaded from any mobile phone or tablet, which will contain and process all the data, agronomic and some commercial, necessary to assist the farmer and identify the best varietal option and its best combination with a specific rootstock (the 3 or 4 best combinations, that is understood).

This was explained in an informative webinar held this week, to which almost 200 producers, exporters and researchers connected and which was inaugurated by Isabel Bombal, general director of Rural Development, Innovation and Agri-Food Training of the Ministry of Agriculture. “Spain was the country with the most initiatives programmed and actually granted in the previous call – there are 67 projects with European funding of 42.4 million euros – and Gocitrus is a good example of how the companies in this sector themselves are capable of "to provide innovative solutions to complex problems," said Bombal, who also wanted to highlight the "integrative" role 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. for the 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 Agricultural 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 of the field.” to the table". Ibáñez also clarified that this technology is “affordable, applicable to any plant species and the 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.

Hence, when asked by the public, the scientist Manuel Talón later confessed that this project “as it consolidates action protocols for obtaining markers, it can lay the foundations for the next creation of a varietal identification service that could perfectly be locate in the IVIA (Moncada, Valencia), which is where the technicians who have developed them are.”

From the phone

“Today, to choose the right 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… ”, began explaining Carlos Baixauli, director of the Cajamar Experience Center. "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 mandarin/orange/s and the combination of the portain-graft that interests you the 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 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, stress water) 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.

The breeding and exporting industry, behind

Together with the reference center in citrus varietal research that is the IVIA, the liaison work carried out by the Biovegen Biotechnology Platform and the financial partner that Cajamar represents, Gocitrus integrates important operators from the export sector and the Spanish breeding industry. In the first field, there is the second-level cooperative Anecoop – which is the first marketer in Europe by volume of citrus fruits and which also acts as coordinator of the project. Indirectly, private trade is also especially linked because not in vain - except in the case of Eurosemillas - the social capital of the main Spanish consortiums dedicated to the obtaining and exploitation of varieties are also present: GCM integrates the exporters Giner, Cañamás and Martinavarro; Castellón Citrus Research (ICCSA) is made up of a group of companies and cooperatives integrated into the Professional Association of Fruit Exporters of the Province of Castellón (ASOCIEX) and Citrus Génesis is the subsidiary of the Murcia-based AMC Group.