Flowering of the acid lime tree ‘Tahiti’ submitted to water stress and treated whit paclobutrazol

Abstract

‘Tahiti’Acid lime trees, exposed or not to water stress as a flowering inductive treatment, were treated with different doses (0, 400, 800, and 1200 mg per plant) of paclobutrazol (PBZ) in order to study the flowering behavior of the plants. The plants resulting from a grafting on lemon tree 'Cravo' (Citrus limonia Osbeck), were grown in five litter pots in a growth chamber with controlled temperature (28 º C day/ 18 ºC night),and a photoperiod of 16 hours with light, with photosynthetic photons flow (PPF) of about 170-µmol m^-2 s^-1. After that period, the plants were transferred to natural conditions, with temperatures ranging from 28.41 ºC (maximum) to 21.00 ºC (minimum) and PPF from 327 to 850 µmol m^-2 s^-1. The applied doses of PBZ, in comparison with the check treatment, were found to increase of 137% the number of flowers in irrigated plants and of 371% in those kept under water stress. The number of shootings and flowers emitted by the plants was highest when they were undergoing water stress.

Additional keywords: Citrus latifolia; phytoregulators; water stress; floral induction.