Reproductive development of lemon (Citrus aurantifolia Swingle) under different soil moisture levels

Abstract

According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, citrus fruits dominate the worldwide production of all fruits. Because of its geographical position, Ecuador has favourable growing conditions for citrus fruit production and most of the country has favourable conditions for plants and their relationships with environmental conditions. The objective of the present research was to determine the reproductive phenology of lemon sutil (Citrus aurantifolia Swingle) under varying soil moisture levels. A Database Configuration Assistant) using a Randomized Complete Block design as applied and four treatments and six repetitions were distributed as follows: treatment 1 [crop coefficient (Kc) 0.3], treatment 2 (Kc 0.5), treatment 3 (Kc 0.7) and treatment 4 (Kc 0.9). Fruit quality, skin and pulp weight, seed quantity, juice content, degree Brix and polar and equatorial diameter were evaluated, and the phenology was adjusted to BBCH scale coding. No statistically significant difference was found during the study that resulted from rains that homogenised the entire substrate and maintained soil moisture. We established that from the phenological phase of primordia to fruit harvest, there was an interval of 138-140 d wherein the average weight of the fruit (42.62 g) fluctuated according to the weight of the skin (7.65 g), weight of the pulp (34.73 g), number of seeds (5.05), amount of juice (14.36 mL), degrees Brix (5.5), polar and equatorial diameters (44.32 and 42.12 mm, respectively) and the titratable acidity (6.54%). We concluded that the Kcs proposed in the present research should be evaluated during the dry season because, in this investigation, irrigation was induced by Kc for only 2 months after the rains.