Seleção de Citrus spp. quanto ao desenvolvimento e qualidade de frutos para o agreste pernambucano

Abstract

Citriculture in Brazil requires a new development model and the Northeast Region has a great potential for this production. Garanhuns microregion presents edaphoclimatic conditions that favor citrus cultivation and could lead to high production rates in the regional market. This study aims to indentify variants of citrus in what regards their vegetative development and quality of the fruits that are adaptable to Southern Agreste region of the State of Pernambuco, in order to support regional citriculture. The assays were deployed in an orchard of eight years old, at the Experimental Station of the Agronomic Institute of Pernambuco (IPA), in the city of Brejão-PE. The collection studied is composed by 14 varieties of orange, 12 varieties of tangerine tree and its hybrids and 3 types of grapefruit tree. The experiments were designed in randomized blocks, with three repetitions and one plant in each portion of 6 x 4 m. The variants named Salustiana (3,40 m) and Bahia 101 (3,17 m) were shown to be the highest when evaluated in 2013 and 2014, respectively. Pêra D6 orange showed the lowest height in two years of evaluation (2,23 and 2,20 m). For the index of compatibility, the varieties of orange tree such as Lima, Pêra D6, Pêra D9 and Pêra D12 stood out; as well as tangerine Minneola and grapefruit trees Star Ruby and Henderson, which presented values close to one. Tangenine tree Nova (12,34 m3) and the grapefruit Flame (5,56 m3) showed the lowest values for treetop volume at the last evaluation. The fruits which showed richest pulp and bigger size were observed in the variant Bahia 101 and tangerine Robinson (1,62 mm) were shown to have thinnest skin. The orange tree Valência Tuxpan (55,61 %) showed the highest juice yield, for the tangerine trees the juice yield ranged from 32,38 % (Kinnow) to 58,66 % (Murcott). The lowest content of soluble solids in the oranges was found in the variant Hamlin 02 (6,97°Brix) and the highest was found in Rubi (11,73°Brix), for tangerines the variant Piemonte (10,53°Brix) stood out in opposition to Lee (7,13°Brix). Due to its low acidness, the variant Lima (75,23) showed the highest ratio. Valência Tuxpan (63,73 mg/100g) showed high rate of vitamin C, and the variant Henderson of grapefruit tree stood out regarding the quality of its fruits.