Hydrogel as a soil conditioner affecting the growth, yield, and fruit quality of ‘Murcott’ mandarin trees under arid and semi-arid lands

Abstract

‘Murcott’ mandarin fruits are suffering from sunburn injury in arid and semi-arid lands. In this regard, hydrogel represents a promising approach in the citrus industry, since it improves growth, yield, andfruit quality under abiotic stress. This investigation aims to study the effect of adding of hydrogel (as soil conditioner) with or without water regime on growth and yield of ‘Murcott’ mandarin trees budded on Volkamer lemon rootstock grown in sandy soil. The experimental farm location belongs to arid and semi-arid lands. The treatments were as follows 1: control (100 %) of crop evapotranspiration (Etc), 2: 75% of Etc, 3: 75% of Etc+250 g of hydrogel / tree, 4: 75% of Etc+500 g of hydrogel/tree and 5:75% of Etc+750 g of hydrogel/tree. The results indicated that all applications of hydrogel composite significantly improved vegetative growth, yield, and fruit quality characteristics of ‘Murcott’ mandarin trees compared to the control. Regarding the vegetative growth, hydrogel at 750 g/tree under 75% of Etc had the optimal values of vegetative growth parameters such as leaf area, shoot length, and tree canopy volume compared to all the other treatments. A similar trend was noticed regarding yield and fruit quality, as the best values were obtained when the hydrogel was used at 750 g /tree under 75% of Etc. In conclusion, the application of hydrogel agent can improve the productionand fruit quality of ‘Murcott’ mandarin trees in arid and semi-arid lands.