Díaz Candelas, Cecilia C.

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    Effect of exogenous bio-regulators on organically-managed Tahiti lime (Citrus latifolia Tanaka) fruit and essential oil productivity and quality
    (2013) Díaz Candelas, Cecilia C.; Morales Payán, José P.; College of Agricultural Sciences; Martínez Garrastazú, Sonia; Romañach, Rodolfo J.; Department of Crops and Agro-Environmental Sciences; Santiago, Wilma
    Tahiti or Persian lime productivity is limited because of its high abortion rate (>90%). Scientific literature is short of information regarding ethylene inhibitors, cytokinins and brassinolide in this crop and even less on organic management. Bioregulators accepted for organic agriculture were foliarly sprayed on Tahiti lime trees during flowering at the AEE-Lajas, to evaluate their effect on fruit and essential oil yield, fruit quality and post-harvest deterioration. During the October-December 2011 flowering period the following bioregulators were evaluated: aminoethoxyvinylglycine (AVG, 302 mg per tree, once four weeks before harvest), an Ascophyllum nodosum seaweed extract (AN, 0.6 mg eq. kinetin per tree, 4 times every three weeks), a polypeptide, amino acid and alkyl glycerol-triglycerides emulsion from hydrolyzed shark tissues (AHS, 3.4 mg a.i. per tree, 5 times every two weeks), a vitamin B, a triacontanol and brassinosteroids plant compost based formulation (TB, 0.04 mg a.i. per tree, 4 times every three weeks), gibberellic acid 3 (GA3, 12 mg per tree, two times), gibberellic acid 4/7 (GA4/7, 0.67 ng per tree, 5 times), and 2 applications of 24 mg GA3 + 5 applications of 0.67 ng GA4/7 per tree. The experiment was repeated during the April-June, 2012 flowering period adding two treatments and a slight augment in gibberellic acid doses: gibberellic acid 3 (GA3, 50 mg per tree, 2 times), gibberellic acid 4/7 (GA4/7, 3.36 ng per tree, 5 times), and 2 applications of 50 mg GA3 + 5 applications of 3.36 ng GA4/7 per tree. The added treatments were a brasinolide application (BR) sprayed at the beginning and five weeks after flowering and the other treatment consisted of the existent AVG application plus a second one four weeks after the first for a total or ten treatments including the check trees (Check). Concordant with Flores et al. (2010), the final flower retention was less than 10 percent. The main abscission period was during flower bud differentiation which was mainly affected by endogenous hormone levels. AN and GA4/7 had higher fruit retention percentage than the check trees at the end of the project. AVG seemed to inhibit the decisive abscission effector ethylene for a period of time and along with GA4/7 and AN enhanced fruit quality. GA4/7 proved to be a weight, size, color and juice enhancer while GA3 did not seem to have a positive effect on this citrus species’ fruit yield nor quality apart of producing greener fruits. One single AVG application eight weeks before harvest had a consistent effect on juice content augmentation. AN and AHS applications produced a lasting and holistic fruit quality as long as water was available to the trees. TB did not seem to regularly affect fruit quality and storage. Terpenes in the lime essential oil were non-destructively confirmed in the fruit flavedo by near-infrared spectroscopy. Organically accepted pre-harvest application of exogenous plant growth regulators are useful for Tahiti lime fruit yield augmentation, post-harvest quality and storage enhancemen