Influence of Rootstock on Citrus Tree Growth: Effects on Photosynthesis and Carbohydrate Distribution, Plant Size, Yield, Fruit Quality, and Dwarfing Genotypes

Abstract

Citrus species are the most widely produced fruit crops in the world, and Spain is one of the leading citrus producers that supply the fresh market. Rootstocks greatly influence variety behaviour as it ensures tolerance to abiotic stress conditions, as well as the provision of minerals and water for the total plant, and consequently impact crop yield and fruit quality. So, rootstock choice is one of the most important decisions a grower makes when establishing commercial citrus orchards. In this chapter, we attempted to provide an overview of the response in terms of plant growth, fruit quality and yield parameters of several citrus cultivar trees grafted onto different commercial rootstocks, plus new hybrids and some dwarfing genotypes, to reduce costs in some cultural practices. In particular, we considered the rootstock influence on scion photosynthetic capacity linked to carbohydrate distribution for plant vegetative and reproductive development.

Rootstocks Genotypes Impact on Tree Development and Industrial Properties of ‘Valencia’ Sweet Orange Juice

“…The selection of scion/rootstock combinations requires clearly defined cultivation strategies for each growing region, as a mean to select genotypes more likely to generate profits over the life cycle of the orchard. The most productive rootstocks are not always the best alternatives; for instance, although the 'Rangpur' lime is a high yielding rootstock, it is also highly vigorous, which is commercially undesirable [2,4,41]. Under our study conditions, the 'US-801' and 'US-812' citrandarin rootstocks were promise, with good productive performance and high and regular production over the study; further, they produced less vigorous trees than the rootstocks grown on a commercial scale.…”

“…Citrus is the most economically important fruit crop in the world, and commercial sweet orange orchards consist of two-part trees that incorporate favorable attributes of the scion and rootstock. The selection of rootstock is the major factor to prepare plant material, and it should be carefully considered because citrus rootstocks can influence important aspects of the scion, including tree growth development, production, industrial properties of juices, disease resistance, as well as abiotic aspects such as cold and drought tolerance [1][2][3][4]. In other words, without rootstocks, own-rooted orange trees may have a poor development or even die in a short period of time.…”

Características de vigor y susceptibilidad a salinidad de árboles de aguacate en las condiciones subtropicales de Jalisco, Mex.

“…Algunas combinaciones que presentan estas características tienden a desarrollar arboles menos vigorosos en cítricos (Medina-Urrutia et al, 2000;Martínez-Cuenca et al, 2016).…”

“…En aguacate y otras especies, se conoce que distintas especies de patrones influye no solo en la adaptación a las condiciones del suelo, sino que también modifican el comportamiento del crecimiento y calidad de los frutos, debido a diferencias en la capacidad de raíces para absorber nutrientes y agua del suelo por diferencias anatómicas y morfológicas del sistema radicular (Castro et al, 2009). Los reportes en otros frutales como los cítricos, confirman que los portainjertos pueden controlar el tamaño de árboles (Medina-Urrutia, 1996;Medina-Urrutia et al, 2000;Martínez-Cuenca et al, 2016). Además los árboles que se mostraron como de menor vigor, coincidieron con los que tuvieron un grosor mayor del patrón que el injerto (Medina-Urrutia et al, 2000).…”

“…Además los árboles que se mostraron como de menor vigor, coincidieron con los que tuvieron un grosor mayor del patrón que el injerto (Medina-Urrutia et al, 2000). Trabajos previos sobre portainjertos en cítricos, demostraron que una característica de los portainjertos trifoliados achaparrantes injertados con cualquier variedad, desarrollan un diámetro de patrón mayor que el injerto (Medina-Urrutia, 1996;Martínez-Cuenca et al, 2016).…”