{"id":10193,"date":"2016-01-26T09:46:34","date_gmt":"2016-01-26T16:46:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/plantingseedsblog.cdfa.ca.gov\/wordpress\/?p=10193"},"modified":"2016-01-26T09:46:34","modified_gmt":"2016-01-26T16:46:34","slug":"dogs-enlisted-to-help-protect-citrus-from-california-ag-today","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/plantingseedsblog.cdfa.ca.gov\/wordpress\/index.php\/2016\/01\/26\/dogs-enlisted-to-help-protect-citrus-from-california-ag-today\/","title":{"rendered":"Dogs enlisted to help protect citrus – from California Ag Today"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Ag-Detector-K-9-868x564\"<\/a><\/p>\n

By Charmayne Hefley<\/strong><\/p>\n

Animals have been known to be able to use their senses to detect things that humans require extensive technology to detect. Mary Palm, USDA\u00a0Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS)\u00a0national coordinator for citrus pest programs, said dogs have been successfully trained to detect canker disease, and now Huanglongbing disease (HLB), in citrus.<\/p>\n

\u201cOver the past four\u00a0to five\u00a0years,\u201d Palm said, \u201ca researcher in Florida first determined dogs\u00a0could actually detect canker, began training dogs,\u201d Palm said, \u201cand then trained different sets of dogs to detect it. It turned out that they were very good at it. In a\u00a0demonstration there, none of the people could find any symptoms in a particular citrus tree, but\u00a0the dogs came through and\u00a0found the symptoms.\u00a0Once the people came back and looked very closely, sure enough, it was there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Palm said the USDA Huanglongbing Multi Agency Coordination (MAC) Group funded research to determine if dogs could detect HLB in citrus as well as they detected canker.\u00a0There are now five\u00a0dogs being trained and tested daily.\u00a0If grower demand increases, the use of canines in pest management could increase.<\/p>\n

Palm said they will probably come up in the next year or two with certification criteria for other companies to\u00a0train dogs and certify them\u00a0as detectors.\u00a0Palm said,\u00a0\u201cThey would be able to get a certificate to show they had conducted all of the tests necessary with the [proper] degree of accuracy.\u201d\u00a0Palm said the dogs in this\u00a0program have a 99 percent success rate at detecting HLB disease.<\/p>\n

Palm said approximately 80 trees are put inside every night,\u00a0the positive ones in one greenhouse and the negative ones in another. The\u00a0trees\u00a0are taken out the next day and positioned\u00a0in different patterns for dogs to inspect throughout the day. When\u00a0the dogs are brought out, even\u00a0their\u00a0trainers don\u2019t know which trees\u00a0are positive or negative. The\u00a0trained dogs\u00a0are more than 99 percent accurate.\u201d<\/p>\n

Link to article<\/a><\/p>\n