Author Topic: Sugar Belle Orang & HLB  (Read 846 times)

Millet

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Sugar Belle Orang & HLB
« on: March 02, 2021, 06:19:45 PM »
Studies of the resilient qualities of the Sugar Belle will lead to the development of a cultivar that completely resist  citrus greening. Sugar Belle's tolerance also positively impacts phloem regeneration.  Phloem is the tissue that serves as the plant's plumbing system  to move sugars produced in the leaves throughout all plant parts, from roots to fruit. HLB blocks the plumbing, but  Sugar Belle has a unique capacity to grow new "pipes" bypassing the plugged pluming.

Galatians522

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Re: Sugar Belle Orang & HLB
« Reply #1 on: March 03, 2021, 10:27:09 PM »
That is very interesting. I did not know that Sugar Belle could grow new "pipes." I have seen Sugar Belle get significant greening symptoms when the tree is stressed. They say finger lime is even more resistant and I have yet to see any significant symptoms on finger lime around here. However, I have only seen a handful of trees. Some were pretty well neglected, though. I believe they are attempting a hybrid between the two for use as a resistant rootstock.

Millet

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Re: Sugar Belle Orang & HLB
« Reply #2 on: March 04, 2021, 06:05:11 PM »
Galatians522, you are correct.  I believe that cross breeding is going on now.  Sounds promising.

poncirsguy

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Re: Sugar Belle Orang & HLB
« Reply #3 on: March 04, 2021, 11:03:35 PM »
I have read that the Meiwa kumquat on its own roots is almost immune to HLB.  Just one article.

Galatians522

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Re: Sugar Belle Orang & HLB
« Reply #4 on: March 05, 2021, 10:34:43 PM »
I have read that the Meiwa kumquat on its own roots is almost immune to HLB.  Just one article.

While they did last for some time, our seedling Meiwa's finally did succumb to HLB.

850FL

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Re: Sugar Belle Orang & HLB
« Reply #5 on: March 07, 2021, 08:19:08 AM »
Since sugar belle is one of those hybrid of a hybrid varieties, whose genes are speculated to be most responsible for the HLB resistance, or was it the mixup of genes that directly created that resistance?

Galatians522

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Re: Sugar Belle Orang & HLB
« Reply #6 on: March 07, 2021, 10:45:27 PM »
That is a good question. Since it is more tollerent than either the parents or grandparents I would say that it was not a direct contribution but the result of the hybridization. This might take one of two forms. Either a set of genes that were not a significant factor by themselves combined into something significant, or a gene that was "muted" got switched on and became more strongly expressed in the shuffle.

I would lean toward the later. To put it another way, when genes are shuffled around in a hybrid to figure out what needs to pair with what sometimes a genetic switch is flipped that causes a gene to be expressed that had never been noticeable or active before. This is why unique flavors and colors (in flowers) pop up in hybrids that had never shown up in either parent. If it were a "synergy" of genes I would have assumed that most if not all Tangelos would be extra resistant to HLB. This is not the case, and tangelos are mostly considered susceptible to HLB (including Page which has the exact same parentage but was developed about 30 years before). To me this demonstraits that there is something special going on that is beyond simple Mendellian genetics.