
Methyl Bromide Alternative Boosts Citrus
TradeBy Ben Hardin November 30, 1999Attractive navel oranges may remain
standard fare in holiday gift packs after a new, chemical-free insect
quarantine treatment becomes widely used as an alternative to fumigating citrus
with methyl bromide. Agricultural Research Servicescientists at Weslaco, Texas, developed the alternative. Citrus is exposed to
forced hot air. The center of each fruit quickly reaches a temperature of 111
degrees Fahrenheit and remains at that temperature long enough to exterminate
infesting fruit flies. The new alternative treatment was developed at the newly named
Kika de la Garza Subtropical Agricultural
Research Center to be dedicated today. The center includes a new
24,000-square-foot building. ARS is the U.S.
Department of Agriculture's chief scientific research agency. ARS Associate
Administrator Edward B. Knipling and other officials are scheduled to attend
todays building dedication and renaming in honor of former Rep. Kika de
la Garza. Based upon this research, USDAs Animal and Plant Health Inspection Servicelast year approved use of forced hot air treatments for grapefruit, tangerines
and thin-skinned Valencia oranges. This year navel oranges were added to the
list. Now, an APHIS-certified forced hot air chamber owned by a cooperative of
growers in Mexico is being used to treat up to eight tons of navel oranges at a
time. A U.S. produce grower and distributor, Rio Queen Citrus, located in the
Rio Grande Valley of Texas, is importing heat-treated oranges and tangerines
from Mexico into the U.S. for domestic sales. U.S. distributors exported about
1.18 million tons of citrus in fiscal year 1998, with the majority of fruit
grown in areas where treatments are required to insure the fruit is free of
fruit flies. Why may the use of forced hot air treatment become the quarantine treatment
of choice? Though citrus treatments involving methyl bromide remain exempt from
an international program for phasing out the fumigant, the citrus industry
anticipates the fumigants cost will increase as less is manufactured.
Also, unlike methyl bromide, which may cause the fruit skin to develop a bronze
color, the hot forced air treatment causes no impairment to fruit quality. It
has even been shown to help protect the citrus from green mold spoilage during
transport and marketing. Scientific contact: Robert L. Mangan and
Krista C. Shellie, ARS
Kika De La Garza Subtropical Agricultural Research Center, Weslaco, Texas,
phone (956) 565-2647, fax 565-6652, [email protected] and
[email protected]. U.S. Department of Agriculture | |