By Gabe Saldana
Mandadi and his research team demonstrated that naturally occurring antimicrobial peptides from spinach, known as defensins, can protect citrus trees from Huanglongbing, known as citrus greening, one of the most destructive diseases in modern agriculture.
The EPA registration is issued under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act and allows the spinach defensin-based therapy product to be sold commercially without a tolerance limit — a designation reflecting years of safety data gathered through the research partnership.
From lab discovery to field-ready product
“After years of collaborative research and development with the citrus industry and private sector, we are pleased to see the spinach defensin therapeutic technology achieve EPA registration with no tolerance limit, which is a testament to the product’s safety,” Mandadi said.
He said the EPA registration marks a turning point for the U.S. citrus industry, which has struggled to prevent citrus greening losses.
“This is the result of research that started right here at our center in Weslaco, but it carries impacts nationwide,” said G. Cliff Lamb, Ph.D., director of AgriLife Research. “Seeing our research-enabled development of a fully registered commercial product for producers shows what long-term investment and technology commercialization support in agricultural science can accomplish.”
Source : tamu.edu