Abstract
The management of soil cover plants (intercropping) in orchards can contribute to increase productivity of citrus trees. Thus, the present research aimed to evaluate different planting systems for Tahiti acid lime grafted onto Flying Dragon trifoliate orange, a dwarfing rootstock, at high planting density (1,157 trees ha-1). The study was set up in four tillage systems, using Urochloa ruziziensis as an intercrop species in the orchard, and conducted for five years: no-tillage (NT), no-tillage and no-herbicide (NT-NH), minimum tillage (MT) and conventional tillage (CT; without intercropping). Dry matter (DM) production of biomass in the row and interrow of the orchard was evaluated yearly, as well as weed density, soil physical and chemical characteristics, plant water and nutritional status, and fruit yield of trees. Greater deposition of DM of biomass was observed in the row of citrus planting for treatments NT and NT-NH compared to CT and MT treatments, which led to reduced undesirable weed populations. The NT treatment also provided increases of 79% in potassium (K) nutrient concentrations in the leaves of trees and 60% in exchangeable K in the soil surface layer, in the first two years evaluated. The maintenance of the Urochloa ruziensis mulch in the NT system also provided higher soil volumetric moisture content and consequently lower soil resistance penetration and water stress on trees, evidenced by the predawn plant leaf water potential (<1 MPa). Moreover, the NT treatment provided an average increase of 56% of fruit yield from trees compared to the CT treatment during three harvests. This long-term study demonstrated the contribution of the no-tillage system using a favorable cover crop to increase the yield of Tahiti acid lime fruits and maintain the soil quality most required for the sustainability of citrus production. Citrus latifolia, ecological mower, intercropping, soil protetion, Urochloa ruziziensis, glyphosate management, yield.
Highlights
The increasing change in the lifestyle habits of the world’s population has led to changes in the food production situation
In the conventional (CT) and minimum-tillage (MT) treatments, where the planting was carried out without the presence of mulch in the citrus rows and the biomass of the inter-rows was managed with a conventional mower, a greater quantity of biomass of the covering plants was deposited in the inter-rows of the Tahiti acid lime orchard (Table 2)
In no-tillage systems, whether with or without herbicide, where the ecological mower was used on the inter-rows, higher biomass values were observed in the orchard row, with 10-fold increases in these treatments (NT and no-tillage + no-herbicide (NT-NH)) compared to conventional tillage (CT) and minimum tillage (MT) (Table 2); these results were similar over four consecutive years (2015–2019)
Summary
The increasing change in the lifestyle habits of the world’s population has led to changes in the food production situation. There is a search for less-impacting production systems, making more conservationist, organic and even so-called urban farming techniques gain space in the world’s agricultural sphere (James and Friel, 2015). Brazil stands out on the world stage as an agricultural producer, for being one of the largest producers, and for the generation of new techniques and more-sustainable planting systems (Ribeiro et al, 2017). Among the foods mostproduced in Brazil, citrus fruits stand out, the country being the world’s largest producer of oranges, the fifth in the ranking of mandarins and the sixth in limes and lemons. Large variation on average productivity has been observed (Fundo de Defesa da Citricultura [Fundecitrus], 2019), which results from significant differences in the adoption of technology (planting and cultural practices) among producers in the different Brazilian citrus fruit regions (Corá et al, 2019)
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