Investigating the vegetative growth, quantitative and qualitative yield and harvesting time of Thomson navel orange with different rootstocks in east of Mazandaran

Document Type : Research

Authors

1 Horticulture Crops Research Department, Mazandaran Agricultural and Natural Resources Research and Education Center, Agricultural Research, Education and Extension Organization (AREEO), Sari, Iran,

2 Soil and Water Department, Mazandaran Agricultural and Natural Resources Research and Education Center, Agricultural Research, Education and Extension Organization

3 Citrus and Subtropical Fruits Research Center, Horticultural Science Research Institute, Agricultural Research, Education and Extension Organization (AREEO), Ramsar, Iran

10.22092/rhsj.2024.362581.1063

Abstract

Existence of various types of biotic and abiotic stresses has made necessary to investigate different rootstocks in different climatic and soil conditions. In this study, the effect of three important citrus rootstocks of the region on vegetative growth, quantitative and qualitative yield and harvest time of Thomson navel orange was investigated during seven years. The results showed that the affinity between the rootstock and scion decreased in all three rootstock during experiment. With the training of young trees and annual pruning, the maximum volume of canopy was about five m3 and the height of the trees maintained at about 2 m. The characteristics of orange fruit on three rootstocks did not show any significant difference. The canopy of trees on citrumelo rootstock was higher than the two citrange, but the yield efficiency of trees on rootstocks was not significantly different. The fruit harvest index reached more than the acceptable standard level in early November. The weight of the fruit increased until the end of December. The percentage of fruit decay in normal storage was the lowest during early November harvest and the highest during the late November and December harvest. By performing annual pruning, the planting intervals of Thomson orange can be reduced to half the intervals of traditional gardens. Also, to prevent the fruit from growing too large, and reducing fruits marketability, and to reduce the drop before harvesting and the rotting of the fruit in the store, the time of fruit harvesting can be started from early November.

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