Morphophysiology of Tahiti lime grafted onto Sunki mandarin hybrids under salt stress

Luderlândio A Silva,Francisco V Da S Sá,Isidro P De Almeida Neto,Pedro D Fernandes,Rômulo C L Moreira,Marcos E B Brito

doi:10.1590/1807-1929/agriambi.v23n8p598-606

Abstract

ABSTRACT This study aimed to evaluate the growth and physiology of citrus scion/rootstock combinations irrigated with saline water until the pre-flowering stage. The experiment was conducted in drainage lysimeters with capacity for 150 dm3, in randomized block design in a 2 x 10 factorial scheme, corresponding to two electrical conductivities of water (S1 = 0.3 and S2 = 3.0 dS m-1) and ten scion/rootstock combinations (nine hybrids and one commercial variety) grafted with Tahiti lime, in three repetitions and one plant per plot. Grafted seedlings were transplanted one year after sowing, subjected to salt stress from 15 days after transplanting until the pre-flowering period, and evaluated for gas exchanges and growth. The irrigation with 3.0 dS m-1 saline water did not influence the photosynthetic activity of the studied citrus scion/rootstock combinations until the pre-flowering. The genotype Santa Cruz Rangpur lime (LCRSTC) was more sensitive to irrigation water salinity in terms of growth. The least sensitive combinations to salinity were Tahiti lime grafted onto TSKFL x (LCR x TR) - 018, TSKFL x TRBK - 011 and TSKFL x TRBK - 30.

Highlights

IntroductionA.Brazil is the world’s largest producer of citrus fruits and the largest exporter of concentrated and frozen orange juice
This study aimed to evaluate the growth and physiology of citrus scion/rootstock combinations irrigated with saline water until the pre-flowering stage
The least sensitive combinations to salinity were Tahiti lime grafted onto TSKFL x (LCR x TR) - 018, TSKFL x trifoliata Beneke (TRBK) – 011 and TSKFL x TRBK - 30

Summary

Introduction

A.Brazil is the world’s largest producer of citrus fruits and the largest exporter of concentrated and frozen orange juice. In 2017, the national production (oranges, lemons and mandarins) was higher than 19 million tons, and the Northeast was the second largest producing region, with a mean yield of 12.0 t ha-1 (IBGE, 2019), with great socio-economic relevance in this region. This yield is still below the potential of the crop, and it is necessary to use more productive genetic materials and irrigation to mitigate the natural water deficit of this region (Braz et al, 2009). Another problem is the high concentration of salts in its sources of water, because the irregular rainfalls are insufficient to leach the salts from the parent material, which accumulate in the agricultural layer of the soil, resulting in problems of salinity and sodicity (Oliveira et al, 2010; Mesquita et al, 2015).

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