GROWTH, YIELD, FRUIT QUALITY AND MINERAL COMPOSITION OF FIVE CITRUS ROOTSTOCKS

Abstract

This study was carried out on 12 years old citrus rootstocks namely: Sour orange, Rangpur lime, Volkamer lemon, Troyer citrange and Cleopatra mandarin to evaluate their growth, yield, fruit quality and mineral composition of roots and leaves. The obtained results are summarized as follows: 1. Volkamer lemon and Rangpur lime have the largest tree size and leaf or shoot growth characters. Sour orange was moderate while, Troyer citrange and Cleopatra mandarin had the lowest values of all tested growth parameters. 2. Volkamer lemon and Rangpur lime, had the greatest weight of fibrous roots at all distances from tree trunk, but the lowest weight of fibrous roots was found for Cleopatra mandarin rootstock. 3. Volkamer lemon and Rangpur lime had significantly heavier fruit yield as (kg) per tree as compared with the other tested rootstocks. Fruits in Volkamer lemon and Sour orange was large and heavier, but in Troyer citrange, it was moderate, while fruit of Rangpur lime and Cleopatra mandarin was small. Rangpur lime gave numerous seeds per fruit, however Sour orange, Volkamer lemon and Troyer citrange were moderate, while Cleopatra mandarin gave the lowest number of seeds per fruit. 4. On the other hand, Sour orange gave the highest percentage of seed germination, followed by Cleopatra mandarin, while, troyer citrange recorded the least value. Volkamer lemon and Rangpur lime recorded moderate value of seed germination percentage. 5. Leaves of Volkamer lemon and Rangpur lime contained higher N, P, K, Ca, Mg, Fe, Mn and Cu but lower Na and Cl levels than that of the other tested rootstocks. However, macro and micronutrients in the roots of all tested rootstoc1ks were not consistent in their trend.