The Citrus Sanitation Center of Estación Experimental Agroindustrial Obispo Colombres, Tucumán, Argentina

in october 2004, the estación experimental agroindustrial obispo colombres (tucumán, argentina) founded its citrus sanitation center. the goal of this center is to establish and keep a group of the most important citrus varieties and rootstocks true to type and free of graft-transmissible pathogens. these will be used as primary sources of propagating material for citrus growers and researchers in northwestern argentina. mother trees of the main commercial citrus varieties were selected from the germplasm bank of the experiment station and were recovered through the standard procedure of shoot tip grafting (stg). healthy plants are carefully and periodically indexed by biological, serological and molecular methods for tristeza, psorosis, exocortis, cachexia, citrus variegated chlorosis, citrus canker and huanglongbing. the citrus sanitation center will maintain a supply of healthy propagation material and will continue a program initiated in 1966, consting in introducing, producing and releasing nucellar clones.