Citrus trees to be destroyed after major virus detected
Food Safety and Security Authority cordons off area and orders destruction of CTV-infected trees
Several citrus trees in Gozo are to be destroyed after becoming infected with a destructive virus.
The Food Safety and Security Authority has ordered containment measures to be put into place in Xagħra and the town’s route to Marsalforn, after citrus trees were infected with the Citrus Tristeza Virus (CTV).
It is the second time the area has been cordoned off due to the virus, following a similar infection report flagged a year ago.
Infected trees will be marked with an identification tag, to be uprooted, chopped up and burned while in the presence of authority inspectors.
Anyone in the area who owns citrus trees has been ordered to inform the Food Safety and Security Authority of them, to be checked. They must also apply plant protection products to control aphids, to stop the spread of the virus.
The notification was published in an edition of the Government Gazette released on Monday.
CTV is a devastating virus that spreads through aphids or the grafting of infected citrus trees. It is considered to be the most destructive viral pathogen citrus trees can be exposed to and has led to the destruction of millions of citrus trees over the past century.
Malta was considered to be CTV-free for decades, with inspectors periodically intercepting infected citrus trees before they entered Malta.
In 2005, the first local incidence of the virus was reported after two trees at a a private garden in Wardija were found to be infected with CTV. In 2021, the virus was once again detected inside a private garden in Mdina and reported to the European and Mediterranean Plant Protection Organisation.
The infected tree was burnt and isolated and citrus trees across Mdina and Rabat subjected to testing, the EPPO said at the time.
In 2024, three tonnes of citrus imported from Sicily were sent back after the virus was detected within them.
CTV is believed to have been introduced into Malta through the grafting of infected foreign citrus varieties onto rootstocks. It is then spread by various species of aphid.
The virus affects all varieties of citrus but is not harmful to humans. There is no cure for the disease.
Infected trees are often identified through discoloured leaves, yellowing foliage, stem pitting and pits in the tree trunk and stem. It can take years for infected trees to die, though in other cases trees can die within days of infection.
The virus is most commonly associated with South America, where it killed millions of trees and led to farmers dubbing it ‘tristeza’ (the Spanish word for ‘sadness’). But it has spread across the world