Influence of rootstocks and inter stocks on the macro- and micro-nutrients in valencia orange leaves

THE NUTRITIONAL EFFECTS of the most commonly used citrus root-stocks have been extensively investigated. It is known that the citranges and trifoliate orange rootstocks produce the highest concentration of chloride in the leaves, and that sodium accumulation is higher in trees on mandarin rootstock than those on trifoliate orange hybrid rootstocks. But no information on inter-stock effects on nutrient concentrations in any citrus scion leaves has been obtained. This paper evaluates the effects of five trifoliate [Poncirus trifoliata (L.) Raf.] cultivare used as both rootstocks and interstocks on the accumulation of nutrients in ‘Valencia’ orange scion leaves. Five of the most commonly used trifoliate were selected for this study, since the literature indicated that trifoliate as a rootstock was not too tolerant to higher amounts of chloride and boron in the soils. Sweet orange Citrus sinensis (L. Osbeck) was used as a control rootstock.