Abstract
Rootstocks modulate several characteristics of citrus trees, including vegetative growth, fruit yield and quality, and resistance or tolerance to pests, diseases, soil drought, and salinity, among other factors. There is a shortage of scion and rootstock cultivars among the combinations planted in Brazil. “Ponkan” mandarin and “Murcott” tangor grafted on “Rangpur” lime comprise the majority of the commercial mandarin orchards in Brazil. This low genetic diversity of citrus orchards can favor pest and disease outbreaks. This study aimed to evaluate the agronomic performance, Huanglongbing (HLB) tolerance, and fruit quality of “Emperor” mandarin on five different rootstocks for nine cropping seasons under the subtropical soil-climate conditions of the North region of the state of Paraná, Brazil. The experimental design was a randomized block, with six replications, two trees per block, and five rootstocks, including “Rangpur” lime, “Cleopatra,” and “Sunki” mandarins, “Swingle” citrumelo, and “Fepagro C-13” citrange. The evaluations included tree growth, yield performance, fruit quality, and HLB disease incidence. “Emperor” mandarin trees grafted on “Rangpur” lime and “Swingle” citrumelo had early fruiting and high yield efficiency. “Rangpur” lime also induced the lowest tree growth, but low fruit quality. Trees on “Swingle” citrumelo and “Fepagro C-13” citrange showed low scion and rootstock affinity and produced fruits with high total soluble solids (TSS), with a lower number of seeds for those from trees on “Fepagro C-13” citrange. “Cleopatra” and “Sunki” mandarins induced higher juice content, while fruits from trees on “Cleopatra” also had higher TSS/titratable acidity (TA) ratio. “Emperor” mandarin trees were susceptible to HLB regardless of the rootstocks. Overall, “Cleopatra” and “Sunki” mandarins, “Swingle” citrumelo, and “Fepagro C-13” are more suitable rootstocks for “Emperor” mandarin under Brazilian subtropical conditions than “Rangpur” lime.
Highlights
Mandarins are the second most important group of commercial citrus produced worldwide, next to oranges
In 2020, over one million tons of mandarin fruits were produced in Brazil [Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística (IBGE), 2020]
The Brazilian mandarin production is concentrated in the states of São Paulo, Minas Gerais, Paraná, and Rio Grande do Sul [Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística (IBGE), 2020]
Summary
Mandarins are the second most important group of commercial citrus produced worldwide, next to oranges. In 2019, the total mandarin production globally was 35 million tons, with almost three-quarters produced in Asia [Food Agricultural Organization (FAO), 2019]. In 2020, over one million tons of mandarin fruits were produced in Brazil [Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística (IBGE), 2020]. Despite the global importance of the Brazilian citrus industry, there is a shortage of citrus scion and rootstock cultivars. Under this scenario, the genetic diversification of citrus orchards, for both scion and rootstock cultivars, is important to prevent disease and pest outbreaks, and to extend the harvest season, as well as to improve the commercial performance of the citrus species under different edaphoclimatic conditions, producing fruits of high yield and quality M. et al, 2019; Alfaro et al, 2021)
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