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Citrus boron nutrient level and its impact factors in the Three Gorges Reservoir region of Chongqing, China.

ZHOU Wei1,2, PENG Liang-zhi1, CHUN Chang-pin1, JIANG Cai-lun1,  LING Li-li1, WANG Nan-qi2, XING Fei2, HUANG Yi2   

  1. (1Citrus Research Institute, Southwest University/National Citrus Engineering Research Center, Chongqing 400712, China; 2College of Horticulture and Landscape Architecture, Southwest University, Chongqing 400700, China)
  • Online:2014-04-18 Published:2014-04-18

Abstract:

To investigate the level of boron nutrient in citrus and its impact factors, a total of 954 citrus leaf samples and 302 soil samples were collected from representative orchards in the 12 main citrus production counties in the Three Gorges Reservoir region of Chongqing to determine the boron content in citrus leaves, as well as the relationships between leaf boron content with soil available boron content, soil pH value, cultivar, rootstock and the age of tree. Results indicated that the leaf samples from 41.6% orchards (<35 mg·kg-1) and the soil samples from 89.4% orchards (<0.5 mg·kg-1) were boron insufficient. The correlation of leaf boron content and soil available boron content was not significant. The soil pH, cultivar, rootstock and the age of tree did affect the leaf boron content. The leaves from the orchards with soil pH of 4.5-6.4 demonstrated significantly higher boron contents than with the soil pH of 6.5-8.5. The leaf boron contents in the different cultivars was ranged as Satsuma mandarin > pomelo > valencia orange > sweet orange > tangor > navel orange. The citrus on trifoliate orange and sour pomelo rootstocks had significantly higher leaf boron contents than on Carrizo citrange and red tangerine rootstocks. Compared with the adult citrus trees (above 8 year-old), 6.6% more of leaf samples of younger trees (3 to 8 year-old) contained boron contents in the optimum range (35-100 mg·kg-1).