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Abstract
The orange tree combination 'Pera' x 'Cravo' lemon has prevailed in the national territory, and new orange rootstock combinations have been developed in citrus breeding programs in order to provide the productive sector with new alternatives. Therefore, the objective of this study was to evaluate the physical and chemical characteristics of fruits from different orange canopy/rootstock combinations grown in the Brazilian semiarid. The experimental design was in randomized blocks in a factorial scheme with three canopy and four rootstock cultivars, with three replications. The orange canopies cultivars used were 'Pera,' 'Natal,' and 'Sincorá', while the rootstock cultivars were 'Santa Cruz' Cravo lemon, the 'Sunki Tropical' tangerine selection, and the citrandarins 'Indio' and 'Riverside'. The results showed that the factors acted independently on fruit mass and diameter, number of seeds, juice yield, peel and pulp lightness, pulp chroma and hue angle, °Brix, and acid contents. However, it was different on peel thickness, peel chroma and hue angle, and SS/TA ratio. It was possible to conclude that the cultivar 'BRS 002-Sincorá' showed the best results for the physical and chemical analyses, while the 'Santa Cruz' Cravo lemon and the 'Sunki Tropical' tangerine selection influenced the best results in the physical and chemical analysis of the canopies, respectively. All combinations resulted in low juice yield.
Keywords: Citrandarins, postharvest, SS/TA ratio
Introduction
Within the diversity presented by the citrus group, oranges are the most important for commercial purposes, figuring as its most cultivated and appreciated fruits, with a worldwide production of 66,974.1 tons in 2016, of which 14,350 tons were produced in Brazil, with 11,180 tons destined for the processing industry (Erpen et al., 2018; FAO, 2017; IBGE, 2019; Kist, 2018), highlighting the country as the largest orange producer in the world. Nationally, the main combination present in citrus orchards consists of the 'Pera' orange canopy and the 'Cravo' lemon rootstock (Bastos et al., 2014). The predominance of this combination has raised concerns regarding phytopathology risks as it may make the crop vulnerable to attacks by pests and diseases and limit the market compared to other countries (Amorim et al., 2018).
Aiming at crop diversification in Brazil, national citrus breeding programs have invested in the obtainment and/or introduction of new cultivars (Medeiros et al., 2013); however, several...