It is easy to search for avocados affected by “sunspots” with the help of bees. In this respect informs University of Queensland.
Avocados can be infected with ASBV, a sunspot disease caused by a viroid. Infections result in lower yields and lower fruit quality as viroid is transmitted by pollen and infected seeds or buds. At the same time, it is difficult to detect this disease visually because its main symptom is a decrease in yield, but with a more severe course, longitudinal yellow stripes begin to appear on the fruits. Avocados in Australia were particularly affected by this disease in the 1980s. The virus has since been virtually eliminated, but many of Australia’s own plantation neighbors are still wary of importing fruit from that country, as the disease is highly contagious.
John Roberts and colleagues have found a simple way to screen for ASBV in plantations that doesn’t require extensive examination of every tree. Trees can exceed 10 meters in height, and even a small field can have tens of thousands of trees. The task of collecting material for analysis can be simplified by using bees for this. Bees are standard pollinators, but their main job is to collect pollen for themselves.
“They take the pollen back to the center, back to their hives, do our sampling work for us, and all we have to do is control the pollen in the hive. This is much better than a bunch of people climbing the stairs,” the scientists explain.
At the same time, the pollination process by bees is very meticulous and they are unlikely to miss a tree. The authors now hope to use their method to demonstrate pathogen free in Australia’s largest avocado growing area, the Atherton Plateau.
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