Evaluation of Marsh seedless grapefruit on ten rootstocks in São Paulo, Brazil

Abstract

Introduction. The Brazilian citrus industry is characterized by orange production for processing, with the Rangpur lime (Citrus limonia L. Osbeck) as the predominant rootstock. Grapefruit (Citrus paradisi Macf.) is cultivated on a small scale and represents one of the less studied citrus species. Using other rootstock alternatives to Rangpur lime could increase fruit production and quality. Materials and methods. Ten citrus (Troyer citrange, Swingle citrumelo, Cleopatra mandarin, Valencia Americana sweet orange, Volkamer lemon cv. Catania 2, Nacional and Florida rough lemons, Rangpur lime, Thornton tangelo and trifoliate orange) were evaluated as rootstocks for the Marsh seedless grapefruit in an experiment planted at the Citrus Experimental Station of Bebedouro (EECB), Sao Paulo State, Brazil, in January 1991. The spacing was 8.0 m between rows and 4.0 m between trees. The experimental design, randomized blocks, presented four replications with three trees per plot. Trees were grown without supplementary irrigation. Yield was evaluated from 1994 through 2000; fruit quality from 1994 through 1999; the tree size in May 2000. Results. For each studied characteristic, the various rootstocks showed significant differences, except for the average weight of the fruit. The data obtained were compared with the results already published in the Brazilian literature. Conclusion. Swingle, Troyer, Cleopatra and trifoliate orange could be used as alternative rootstocks for Marsh seedless grapefruit.