University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS) research found that supplemental nutrition mitigates HLB symptoms and improves fruit quality and shelf-life of Sugar Belle and Tango mandarins. Faisal Shahzad, Tripti Vashisth, Mark Ritenour and Jeffrey Brecht, all with UF/IFAS, authored an article in the Journal of the American Society for Horticultural Science about the research.
The article noted that HLB-affected mandarin trees produce HLB-symptomatic fruit with poor quality, posing a major challenge to their marketability. Diminished feeder root biomass results in low nutrient and water uptake, contributing to poor fruit development.
Researchers investigated the effects of supplemental foliar-applied mineral nutrients potassium (K), boron (B) and calcium (Ca) on tree health and fruit quality at harvest and during ambient storage for Sugar Belle and Tango.
In both cultivars, K and B treatments resulted in larger fruit, less HLB-symptomatic fruit development and better peel color compared with the untreated control and Ca treatments. Ca treatment resulted in greater fruit firmness and less storage decay, but fruit were small, greener and difficult to peel, resembling immature fruit.
No major differences were found in the juice sugar or the organic acids profile among treatments, suggesting the supplemental K and B treatments improve fruit size without compromising internal fruit quality.
The article’s conclusion stated that foliar K and B treatments improved tree productivity and fruit size, resulted in fewer HLB-symptomatic fruit and produced fruit with a more attractive peel color. The K and B treatments marginally affected juice quality during storage.
The K and B treatments improved hormonal balance (growth-promoting hormones) and antioxidant activities. This possibly reduced oxidative stress, promoted better vegetative growth and improved fruit yield in HLB-affected Sugar Belle and Tango mandarins.
Altogether, supplemental K and B treatments show efficacy for improving fruit productivity and achieving all the desired fruit quality traits in HLB-affected mandarins grown under subtropical climates such as that found in Florida.
See the full article here.
Source: American Society for Horticultural Science
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