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Research Article Volume 9 Issue 3
Bacterial density and diversity in the phylloplane of ice-nucleating citrus leaves from northeastern México is impacted by climatic change
Magdalena Banda-Alonso, Juan Manuel Sánchez-Yáñez
Received: June 23, 2025 | Published: July 7, 2025
Citation: Banda-Alonso M, Sánchez-Yáñez JM. Bacterial density and diversity in the phylloplane of ice-nucleating citrus leaves from northeastern México is impacted by climatic change. Horticult Int J. 2025;9(2):104-110. DOI: 10.15406/hij.2025.09.00331
Abstract
Citrus production in the northeast of México is affected by frosts that cause economic losses. A climatic problem, today, greenhouse gases from various sources, especially agricultural areas, have caused climate change in combination with bacterial agents from the phyllosphere of the foliage of these citrus fruits, which at temperatures close to freezing point and relative humidity greater than 80%, cause damage by freezing, with a negative economic impact in the citrus area of the state of Nuevo León, northeastern, México. There for the objectives of this work were: i) To analyze the density of native populations of icenucleus-activating bacteria from these citrus fruits and ii) to demonstrate the capacity of these populations to induce ice nuclei in vitro and iii) to biochemically identify the main bacterial groups with INAB in citrus leaves from the region of the state of Nuevo León, northeastern of México. For this purpose, healthy citrus leaves were collected from the municipalities of Monterrey: El Cercado, Villa de Santiago and Gral. Terán, N.L, northeastern of México. Each different bacterial isolate was subjected the ice nucleus activation test (INAT) and then identified based on the biochemical pattern. The results showed that the total populations of ice nuclei-activating bacteria ranged from 5.0X102 to 6.1X106 CFU/g of fresh citrus leaf. While 84% were positive in the genetic capacity of ice nuclei activation, in an average time of 20 - 30 minutes. The diversity biochemical identification supports that INAB genera and species were detected: Alcaligenes faecalis, Citrobacter cloacae , Erwinia herbicola, Pseudomonas syringae and Xanthomonas campestris, that exist as natural epiphytes on citrus leaves in N.L northeastern México. While the density and diversity of the natural ice nuclei-activating population depends on the geographic location of the orchards, the climate and the physiological state of the citrus trees and now from global warming in that sense, sustainable crops should be the way one to prevent freezing damage.
Keywords: citrus, global warming, epiphytes, ice nuclei activation induction, microbial population
©2025 Banda-Alonso, et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and build upon your work non-commercially.