Vegetative growth and fruit quality of 'Tahiti' acid lime grafted onto different rootstocks

The production of 'Tahiti' acid lime in Brazil is currently limited to the northeastern and southeastern regions and research is required to identify compatible rootstocks in order to potentiate other producing areas and to meet the needs of the consumer and industrial markets. The aim of this study was to evaluate the physical characteristics during vegetative growth and the physicochemical attributes and quality of fruit produced by 'Tahiti CNPMF-02' acid lime grafted onto the twelve rootstocks ‘Cravo LCRSC’ and ‘LCR-03’ lime, citrandarins ‘CTRI’ and ‘CTRSD’, citrumelo ‘CTSW’, ‘Pear HTR-069’ orange, ‘Volkamer LVK×LCR- 038’ lemon, and ‘Sunki TSKC×CTSW-028', ‘TSKC×CTSW-041', ‘TSKC×(LCR×TR)-059', ‘TSKC×TRFD-003' and ‘TSKT’ tangerine. The randomized experimental design included 12 treatments with four repetitions and five plants per plot. The characteristics of the grafted plants were evaluated during vegetative growth at 3.5, 4.0 and 4.5 years of age, while fruit quality was assessed at maturity. All tested rootstocks were compatible with the scion 'Tahiti CNPMF 02' acid lime cultivated under the climate and soil conditions in the north of Mato Grosso state. The rootstocks ‘LCR-003', ‘CTRI’, ‘CTRSD’, ‘CTSW’ and ‘TSKC×CTSW-028' induced the greatest vertical growth, trunk diameter, crown volume and vigor in the grafted plants. The physicochemical characteristics and quality of the fruit produced by grafted plants of 'Tahiti CNPMF 02' acid lime met market expectations, except for the parameter total titratable acidity. The fruits produced by 'Tahiti CNPMF 02' acid lime grafted onto ‘CTRSD’, ‘TSKC×(LCR×TR)-059’, ‘LCR-003’, ‘TSKC×CTSW-041’, ‘TSKC×TRFD-003’, ‘LVK×LCR-038’ and ‘CTRI’ were the largest in terms of length and mass.