Micrografting of valencia orange and Tahiti lime

Abstract

To determine the viability of micrografting of Valencia orange and Tahiti Lime plants on Cleopatra mandarin rootstocks for possible use in massive plant propagation, different steps o the micrografting procedure were evaluated. Seeds of Cleopatra mandarin were established in semisolid MS (Murashige and Skoog) with, or without, GA3 to evaluate the effect on percentage and time time of germination. Plants of Valencia and Tahiti were, either, treated with 1 mg l -1 BAP or manually pruned to evaluate the effect on vegetative shoot production, and the effect of three positions of the shoot tip meristem (Topping, sided and slant) onto the decapitated surface of the rootstock on the percentage of success were evaluated. Treatments for all experiments were distributed with a complete randomized design and data for vegetative shoot production were analyzed with ANOVA and means separated with Tukey test. Results evidenced that GA3 had no effect on increasing percentage and reducing time of germination, pruning statistically increased the number of vegetative shoots in plants. Micrografting success of 28% for Valencia orange and 14% for Tahiti lime are consistent with reported studies for recovery of disease-free plants; however, to increase success level for massive plant propagation, it is recommended for further studies to consider evaluation of in vitro conditions such as increased sucrose concentration, in vitro adaptation of shoot tip meristems and auxin supply, among others.

Keywords

• citrus
• injerto in vitro
• germinación in vitro