Effect of Rootstock on Citrus Fruit Quality: A Review

ABSTRACT

Citrus rootstocks are a relevant tree part that contributes to crops adapting to biotic and abiotic conditions, it becoming a key factor to face the current era of climate change. Although the emphasis of most studies on rootstocks has been placed on the yield and optimization of the citrus fruit grown in different environments, other studies have paid attention to the effect of rootstock on fruit quality. Hence, the quality of citrus fruit is becoming increasingly more relevant as consumers demand high internal and external qualities to eat citrus fruit fresh. To better understand how rootstock influences citrus fruit quality, the literature that focuses on physico-chemical parameters, nutritional compounds and physiological disorders has been revised. This review points out the influence that the external aspects surrounding plants has on fruit quality, such as the rootstock/scion interaction, the water uptake capacity of roots, the modification of the photosynthetic rate or availability of nutrient minerals.

KEYWORDS:

• Nutritional quality
• sugars
• organic acids
• vitamin C
• phenolic compound
• volatiles
• fruit color
• rind thickness
• peel disorders
• juice content

Acknowledgments

This study has been supported by Instituto Valenciano de Investigaciones Agrarias and co-financed by European Social Fund.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).