Phytelligence Steps In To Solve Florida Citrus Rootstock Problem

SEATTLE - Oct. 26, 2017 - PRLog -- SEATTLE, Wash. – October 26, 2017 – Phytelligence, an agricultural biotechnology company revolutionizing the way food crops are grown,has signed a citrus rootstock licensing agreement with Florida Foundation Seed Producers, giving Phytelligence customers the opportunity to access true-to-type, virus and disease free rootstock that's also resistant to citrus-greening disease.

The licensed rootstocks were released as part of the University of Florida's Citrus Fast Track Release Option. The citrus rootstocks were selected based on their resistance to Huanglongbing disease (HLB, or citrus greening disease) during field trials under severe HLB disease pressure. Scion trees grafted onto these rootstocks showed a reduced frequency of infection and reduced disease symptoms once infected when compared to other commercial rootstocks, according to the Florida Foundation Seed Producers.

The University of Florida license gives Phytelligence propagation rights to the following citrus rootstock cultivars:

·      UFR-1

·      UFR-2

·      UFR-3

·      UFR-4

·      UFR-5

·      UFR-6

·      UFR-15

·      UFR-16

·      UFR-17

As part of their emphasis on replenishing the citrus industry in Florida, Phytelligence will immediately establish Florida-based facilities to begin the rootstock initiation process. Phytelligence will also continue to genetically confirm all rootstocks that come from their facilities, eliminating the rootstock mix-up issues prevalent in the industry. In addition to being genetically confirmed via a DNA-based process, all plants produced by Phytelligence are disease and virus free.

"It is absolutely critical to plant trees with rootstocks that are tolerant, or even resistant, to citrus greening disease and the only way to be 100 percent sure the rootstocks planted are true-to-type, is to use a DNA-based certification process," stated Dr. Fred Gmitter, Citrus Breeder, University of Florida.

Citrus greening disease has plagued Florida and the surrounding areas, leading growers to rip out infected trees and scramble to plant new, disease-resistant rootstock. The combination of infected orchards and recent natural disasters has left growers with few options to obtain citrus-greening disease-resistant rootstock to replant. With this licensing deal, Phytelligence will be able to provide confirmed true-to-type rootstock to growers at a much more rapid pace.

To inquire about citrus rootstock, contact Paul Nelson at paulnelson@phytelligence.com, or at (509) 860-2400. To learn more about Phytelligence, visit our website: www.phytelligence.com.

About Phytelligence

Phytelligence (http://www.phytelligence.com) is an agricultural biotechnology company that is revolutionizing food crops. Utilizing its proprietary growing techniques to provide superior quality crops, Phytelligence enables higher grower profit by increasing speed to harvest while reducing input costs. Phytelligence provides additional value to food crop growers and plant breeders through the application of advanced genetics enabling delivery of accurate plants, disease screening, plant repository services, securing of intellectual property, and the ability to co-develop new varieties of food crops. In addition, Phytelligence has a growing pipeline of biological and compound solutions aimed at improving returns throughout the food crop value chain.

Phytelligence was founded in 2012 by Dr. Amit Dhingra, Associate Professor of Horticulture Genomics and Biotechnology Research laboratory at Washington State University.    Phytelligence is headquartered in Seattle with locations in Pullman, Washington and Portland, Oregon.  In 2016, Phytelligence expanded their footprint to include an 8-acre Seattle-based greenhouse space and a Portland-based tissue culture production facility. Currently, Phytelligence has 75 employees and continues to grow.