Abstract:
Citrus rootstock plays a crucial role in the tolerance of citrus trees to environmental stressors, such as high levels of NaCl in the soil. Proper selection of the rootstock can improve resilience of tree to adverse growing conditions, including salinity stress. This can positively impact the growth and productivity of citrus trees, even under high NaCl levels in the soil. This study was conducted to evaluate the effect of salinity on different rootstocks of citrus. There were nine rootstocks of citrus which were used to check salinity stress out of which seven rootstocks (Carrizo citrange, Cleopatra mandarin, Benton citrange, C-35, Poncirus trifoliate, Swingelcitrumel and Troyor citrange) were exotic and two (sour orange, rough lemon) were local. 315 pots were filled with soil, farmyard manure, peat, and moss, and each of the nine varieties was sown in 35 pots after checking the root and shoot length of the 6-month-old seedlings. The seedlings were grown in a greenhouse under natural photoperiods and covered with poly sheeting to protect them from rainfall. Salinity stress was applied twice using NaCl concentrations of 20, 40, 60, 80, 100, and 120 mM. There were a total of 6 treatments and a control with 4 replications of each rootstock. The results demonstrated that different concentrations of NaCl had significant effects on various parameters of citrus rootstocks, such as shoot length, shoot diameter, number of leaves, and root length. The most tolerant citrus rootstock to salinity stress was Poncirus trifoliate in 80mM, while the most susceptible was Carrizo citrange. Overall, salinity stress impaired growth and caused damage to the plants, with the severity of the effects increasing with higher concentrations of NaCl in the watering solution.
Page(s):
46-46
DOI:
DOI not available
Published:
Journal: Abstract Book on Second International Conference on Recent Approaches in Plant Sciences (RAPS-23) 4-5 May 2023 , Volume: 0, Issue: 0, Year: 2023
Keywords:
salinity
,
NaCl
,
root development
,
citrus rootstocks