Effects of Trifoliate Interstocks on Growth and Yield of Mexican Lime Trees

This study was carried out to determine the effect of 21 Citrus interstocks and the control Citrus macrophylla rootstock budded with Mexican lime （Citrus aurantifolia （Chistm.） Swingle） on growth and yield. Three types of mandarin and 13 trifoliate types including ＂C-35＂ and ＂Benton＂ used as interstocks, developed vigorous trees similar or more productive than the control. ＂Morton＂ and ＂Benecke＂ citranges, ＂Pomeroy＂ trifoliate trifoliate orange and the ＂Severinia buxifolia＂ interstocks showed a moderated effect on tree growth. Flying dragon （FDT） and Hiryu trifoliate oranges performed as semi-dwarfing interstocks. These interstocks reduced the tree height, canopy volume and surface area covered by the foliage on 25%-35%, 20%-30% and 20%-30%, respectively, compared to the control. While most interstocks surpassed the assigned area of growth （24 m2） in the 7th year, ＂FDT＂ and ＂Hiryu＂ did that at the 10th year. These semi-dwarfing interstocks produced up to 80 kg/tree per year. Most treatments recorded the highest production from the 8th to 10th year, except FDT and Hiryu, which showed the highest yield （130 kg/tree） from the 5th to 7th year. This study provides useful results to face the huanglongbing （HLB） problem using moderate or semi-dwarfing interstocks for Mexican lime orchards in high density plantations.