ABSTRACT
The citrus industry is globalized due to international agriculture trade where world citrus producers and consumers are connected. The international trade of premium-quality citrus fruit and the movement of the citrus plant material has facilitated the entry of the exotic citrus pathogen into new regions. In the western hemisphere, citrus production has suffered substantially due to Huanglongbing (HLB) and citrus canker diseases that were introduced from the eastern hemisphere. South-eastern Asia, being the citrus origin has crucial geographic importance in citrus biology whether to find the origin of citrus pathogens and their natural enemies or to find disease-resistant germplasm. Mediterranean, European, and African countries are also world citrus contributors, but their production has also been hampered due to fungal, bacterial, and viral citrus diseases. In the current citrus disease management programs, HLB, citrus canker, Phytophthora spp. induced diseases, viral diseases such as Citrus Tristeza virus (CTV) management are the priority. During the course of biological and technological advancement in citriculture, global citriculture has experienced successful containment of many citrus pathogens, while some remained a threat to production because of re-emergence, lack of a cure, disease complexes such as Phytophthora-Diaprepes (DP) or HLB-phytophthora interactions, climatic changes, and financial losses to the growers and investors.
