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Plant nutrition and physiological disorders in fruit crops
C H A P T E R
4 Plant nutrition and physiological disorders in fruit crops Yongqiang Zhenga,*, YanYan Mab, Wenhuan Liub, Fangying Qiub a
Citrus Research Institute, Southwest University-Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Chongqing, China National Engineering Research Center for Citrus Technology/Citrus Research Institute, Southwest University-Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Chongqing, China *Corresponding author. E-mail: [email protected]
b
O U T L I N E 1 Introduction
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2 Definition of physiological disorders
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3 Classification of physiological disorders
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4 Visual symptoms of nutrient deficiency disorders
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5 Visual symptoms of some important physiological disorders 5.1 Alternate bearing 5.2 Fruit drop 5.3 Fruit splitting or cracking 5.4 Cold pitting (peel pitting) 5.5 Puffing 5.6 Creasing (albedo breakdown) 5.7 Navel rind stain (rind breakdown) 5.8 Oleocellosis
50 50 50 51 52 52 52 52 52
5.9 Granulation 5.10 Predicting disorder incidence
52 53
6 Causes and management of important physiological disorders 6.1 Alternate bearing 6.2 Fruit drop 6.3 Fruit splitting or cracking 6.4 Cold pitting (peel pitting) 6.5 Puffing 6.6 Creasing 6.7 Navel rind stain (rind breakdown) 6.8 Oleocellosis 6.9 Granulation
54 54 54 54 55 55 55 55 56 56
7 Future lines of research
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References
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1 Introduction Apart from insects, pests, and diseases, fruit crops like citrus are very prone to develop different physiological disorders. Some physiological disorders may occur due to one factor either nutritional such as creasing (Bower, 2004) or weather conditions such as sunburn. However, most of the disorders associated with more than one factors like environment and nutrition such as on-tree oleocellosis (Zheng et al., 2016, 2018). In this chapter, we have focused on the classification, criteria of distinguishing, mineral markers, preharvest factors, diagnosis, and management of the important physiological disorders such as alternate bearing, fruit drop, granulation, oleocellosis, cold scald, and stem-end browning, which cause economic losses worldwide (Mishra et al., 2016; Zheng et al., 2011).
A.K. Srivastava, Chengxiao Hu (eds.) Fruit Crops: Diagnosis and Management of Nutrient Constraints https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-818732-6.00004-6
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© 2020 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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4. Plant nutrition and physiological disorders in fruit crops
2 Definition of physiological disorders Physiological disorders are a group of disorders affecting fruit quality and fruit crop caused by nonpathogenic factors (Fig. 4.1) such as environment stresses (temperature, relative humidity, water stress, air pollutants, etc.), nutrient deficiencies or toxicities, chemicals (herbicides, pesticides, etc.), and some genetic factors, which result in abnormal external or internal conditions and abnormal growth pattern of fruits (Wallace, 1934). Therefore, the physiological disorders are distinguished from plant diseases caused by plant pathogens (fungi, bacteria, and viruses) and animal herbivores (insects) (Schutzki and Cregg, 2007). Although the symptoms of physiological disorders may appear diseaselike, they can usually be prevented by altering environmental conditions. However, once a plant shows symptoms of a physiological disorder, it is likely that the season’s growth or yield will be reduced.
3 Classification of physiological disorders The productivity and quality of fruits are affected to a greater extent due to physiological disorders and nutrient constraints (Srivastava, 2013b). The physiological disorders of fruit crops occur at both preharvest and postharvest periods according to the occurrence stage (Chikaizumi, 2002; Lafuente and Zacarias, 2006), which can be categorized in various types on the basis of causal factors (Ladaniya, 2008; Mishra et al., 2016; Schutzki and Cregg, 2007). Among these disorders, nutrient constraints have been recorded in nearly all the geographical regions where commercial citrus plantations have been established. As can be seen from Table 4.1, the most often encountered constraints result from inadequate supplies of macronutrients (typically N, P, or K) (Agustí et al., 2014) and
FIG. 4.1 Causes can result in physiological disorders in citrus plantations.
TABLE 4.1
Occurrence of nutrient deficiencies in citrus plantations. N
P
Argentina
●
Australia
●
●
●
●
Egypt
●
●
Mg
S
●
Fe
Mn
B
●
●
Italy
●
Japan
●
Spain The United States
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
Mo
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
● ●
Iran
India
Zn
●
●
Israel
Cu
●
●
●
China
Ca
●
●
Brazil Chile
K
●
● ●
●
● ● ●
●
●
●
●
●
●
● ●
●
●
●
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4 Visual symptoms of nutrient deficiency disorders
TABLE 4.2 Occurrence period and relative cause of the important physiological disorders in citrus plantations. Disorders
Occurrence stage
Temperature
Alternate bearing
Preharvest
●
Fruit drop
Preharvest
●
●
●
Fruit splitting
Preharvest
●
●
Rind breakdown
Preharvest Postharvest
●
Oleocellosis
Preharvest Postharvest
●
Creasing
Preharvest
Granulation
Preharvest Postharvest
●
Water stress
Nutrient constraints
Air pollutants
Genetic factor
References
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Sharma et al. (2019)
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Goren (1993), Mehouachi et al. (1995), Ogata et al. (2002), Thompson and Taylor (1969)
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Cronje et al. (2013)
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●
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Alferez et al. (2001)
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●
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Knight et al. (2002), Montero et al. (2012), Zheng et al. (2016), Zheng et al. (2018)
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●
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Bower (2004), Hussain and Singh (2015)
● ●
Chemicals
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Ritenour et al. (2004)
micronutrients constraints (particularly Fe, Mn, Cu, and Zn), which resulted from the application of fertilizers containing only macronutrients (i.e., N, P, K, Ca, Mg, and S), instances of primary B deficiency (Liu et al., 2013; Wu et al., 2018) and Mo deficiency (Stewart and Leonard, 1951; Tao et al., 2016) in China and the United States have been documented. Moreover, some important physiological disorders like alternate bearing, fruit drop, splitting, rind breakdown, oleocellosis, creasing, granulation, and chilling injury, which are almost related to environmental factors (temperature and water stress), nutrient constraints, and genetic factor (Table 4.2) (Agustí et al., 2014; de Oliveira and Vitória, 2011).
4 Visual symptoms of nutrient deficiency disorders The morphological descriptors are commonly used to identify nutritional disorders at citrus orchard level (Srivastava, 2013a; Srivastava and Singh, 2006). Fortunately, the symptoms of nutrient deficiency follow patterns of expression, which depend on the mobility of nutrients in plants (Table 4.3) with typical leaf color illustrations of nutrient constraints that can easily be distinguished (Fig. 4.2), and the degree of deficiency is measured by the severity of symptoms and number of growth terminals affected (Srivastava and Singh, 2009).
TABLE 4.3 Mobility of nutrients in the phloem in plants. Highly mobile
Variably mobile
Immobile
Nitrogen
Copper
Boron
Phosphorus
Magnesium
Calcium
Potassium
Molybdenum
Iron
Sulfur
Manganese
Zinc
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4. Plant nutrition and physiological disorders in fruit crops
FIG. 4.2 Patterns of symptom organs used to establish nutrient deficiencies diagnosis.
5 Visual symptoms of some important physiological disorders Sometimes physiological disorders also directly related to malfunctions of fruit development induced by environmental factors (Figs. 4.3 and 4.4). The most extensive description of physiological disorders in citrus is given by Agustí et al. (2002, 2014) and Zheng et al. (2010a) for extensive knowledge.
5.1 Alternate bearing Alternate bearing is a problematic phenomenon that occurs in fruit crops (Monselise and Goldschmidt, 1982). In citrus, the “on” crop is characterized by a large number of small fruit in one season followed by the “off” crop typically consists of few and large fruit (Agusti et al., 1992; Monselise and Goldschmidt, 1982; Schaffer et al., 1985).
5.2 Fruit drop In citrus, there are three successive abscission waves affecting flowers, and developing fruitlets can be distinguished, which occur flower and ovary abscission (Fig. 4.3A), June drop (Fig. 4.3B), and preharvest drop
5 Visual symptoms of some important physiological disorders
FIG. 4.3
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The three successive abscission waves occur during (A) flower and ovary abscission, (B) June drop, and (C) preharvest drop.
FIG. 4.4 Physiological citrus fruit disorders. (A) Splitting in “Nova” mandarin. (B) Peel pitting in “Marsh” grapefruit. (C) Puffing in Satsuma fruit. (D) Creasing in Clementine mandarin. (E) Albedo breakdown in a clementine fruit showing creasing. (F) Navel rind stain. (G and H) Peel senescence in clementine mandarin. (I) Navel fruit abscission (Agustí et al., 2014).
(Fig. 4.3C), respectively, resulting in extremely low fruit set (<0.5%) even in healthy, well-managed citrus orchards (Iglesias et al., 2006; Rebolledo et al., 2012).
5.3 Fruit splitting or cracking Citrus fruits, especially acid limes and mandarins, develop a fissure of the peel, usually developing from the stylar end and reaching, or even extending beyond, the equatorial zone (Fig. 4.4A) (Cronje et al., 2013; Mesejo et al., 2016).
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4. Plant nutrition and physiological disorders in fruit crops
5.4 Cold pitting (peel pitting) Cold pitting or peel pitting is a physiological disorder usually occur during postharvest storage stage, which starts on fruit as discrete areas forming sunken reddish-brown (dark gray in the print version) to black lesions that tend to coalesce producing larger depressions of affected areas (Fig. 4.4B), but in some varieties, such as “Fortune” mandarin and “Marsh” grapefruit, it also can appear during preharvest stage (Cronje et al., 2017).
5.5 Puffing Puffing is characterized by the disintegration of the deepest cell layers of the albedo tissue that gives rise to separation aerial spaces between peel and pulp, which results in a cracked and low-resistant albedo in mature fruits (Fig. 4.4C). This disorder takes place only in a few mandarin varieties, which are susceptible to puffing, like “Satsuma” mandarin or “Oroval” clementine mandarin (Ibáñez et al., 2014; Martinelli et al., 2015).
5.6 Creasing (albedo breakdown) Creasing, a peel-related preharvest disorder, affects different cultivars of sweet orange including Washington Navel (Greenberg et al., 2010), Valencia ( Jona et al., 1989), and Nova mandarins (Greenberg et al., 2006). The disorder consists of depressions on the flavedo that alternate with healthy areas that turn bulky (Fig. 4.4D and E) due to the separation of adjacent cells rather than cleavage of individual cells ( Jones et al., 1967; Storey and Treeby, 1994). However, the disorder sometimes takes place with no damage to the cells so that cells retain their turgor, but many cells are irreparable damaged and lose their turgor and wall collapses.
5.7 Navel rind stain (rind breakdown) The navel orange varieties like “Navelina,” “Washington,” and “Lane late” have been proved to be highly sensitive to rind breakdown during ripening under Mediterranean climatic conditions (Zaragoza and Alonso, 1975) and postharvest storage (Alferez et al., 2001; Cronje et al., 2011). The disorder begins at the flavedo-albedo union area, where the cells become dehydrated and flattened, and finally die, which result in reddish-brown sunken areas (dark gray in the print version), especially for dry areas partially covering the exposed portion of the mature fruits (Fig. 4.4F). A similar disorder has also been described in grapefruit, “Fallglo” tangerine (Petracek et al., 1998).
5.8 Oleocellosis Oleocellosis (or oil spotting) is a physiological disorder that occurs after the rupture of the peel oil gland, causing obviously visible pitting due to the released oil, which is phytotoxic to pericarp cells (Shomer and Erner, 1989), and citrus fruit is highly sensitive to oleocellosis during both the postharvest storage and on-tree ripening, termed as postharvest oleocellosis (PHO) and on-tree oleocellosis (OTO), respectively (Zheng et al., 2016, 2018). In addition, the symptoms were significantly different in different stages. At the stage of fruit expansion, OTO results in light green (dark gray in the print version) and smaller than 0.8 cm due to the low maturity of fruit (Fig. 4.5A), and PHO often appears >1.0 cm in lesions of oleocellosis with yellow spots (white spots in the print version) (Fig. 4.5B) due to various mechanical injuries during harvesting, handling, and marketing. Sometimes, the PHO spots color deepening to brown (dark gray in the print version) with the extension of storage time (Fig. 4.5C).
5.9 Granulation Granulation (also called crystallization or section drying) is a serious physiological disorders in most of the citrusgrowing countries. In citrus, this disorder affects fruit juice sacs, which turn gray and become hard, dry, and enlarged, with little extractable juice (Fig. 4.6) (Ritenour et al., 2004). Sweet orange cultivars (pineapple, Washington Navel, Hamlin, blood red, Mosambi, and Valencia late), mandarin cultivars (Kaula, Nagpur, and Dancy), and citrus hybrid in China (Huangguogan) suffer from granulation more than others like grapefruit, pummelo, lemons, limes, tangors, and tangelos (Singh, 2001; Xiong et al., 2017).
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5 Visual symptoms of some important physiological disorders
FIG. 4.5 Oleocellosis symptoms in different periods. (A) Fruit coloring stage; (B) fruit harvest time after mechanical injury; (C) postharvest storage period (Zheng et al., 2010a).
FIG. 4.6
Granulation of navel orange.
5.10 Predicting disorder incidence In the last 30 years, the occurrence mechanism of some physiological and nutrient disorders is understood clearly, so that the incidence of these disorders can be reduced by predicting potential incidence according to the significant relationships between causal factors and disorder incidence, or premature expression of the disorder by artificial means. In view of OTO in citrus, preharvest factors, such as those contributing to the strong pit relationship between diurnal range of rind oil release pressure (ΔRORP) and the incidence of OTO per tree (IOPT) have been proved, and ΔRORP and ROS scavenging capacity could be selected as indicators to assess IOPT and SOPT, respectively (Zheng et al., 2018). Jim Hill (The South Australian Research and Development Institute (SARDI)) has developed inexpensive instruments to measure relevant environmental conditions and the rind turgor pressure in citrus. These instruments were sold as an “oleocellosis prediction kit” ( Jim, 2004). However, fruits need to be destroyed for this procedure. Zheng et al. (2010b) have formed the basis for commercial disorder prediction schemes by using VNIR reflectance spectroscopy. These results provide fundamental and practical knowledge for the development of a nondestructive, fast, and accurate technology for classifying fruit oleocellosis based on spectral reflectance (Fig. 4.7). 1.4 1.2
1.6
Actual RO × Predicted RO
Actual RO Predicted RO
1.4
Actual DO Predicted DO
1.2
1.0
1.0
0.8
DO
RO
Actual DO × Predicted DO
0.6
0.8 0.6 0.4
0.4
0.2 0.2 0.0
0.0
(A) 1
2
3
4
5
(B) 1
2
3
4
5
Harvest phase
FIG. 4.7 Changes in fruit oleocellosis attributes (actual and predicted rate of oleocellosis (A) and actual and predicted degree of oleocellosis (B)) with different harvest phases. (**) Significant at P < .01 (Zheng et al., 2010b).
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4. Plant nutrition and physiological disorders in fruit crops
Similar attempts to use magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to study and predict fruit splitting in citrus (Zur et al., 2017), and the power of MRI can predict splitting probability as early as 2 months before split fruit.
6 Causes and management of important physiological disorders There will inevitably be a reduction in the yield and quality once symptoms appear in citrus orchards (Srivastava, 2013a). Therefore, it is necessary to learn about the causes and management approach of important physiological disorders.
6.1 Alternate bearing 6.1.1 Causes Although the problem has been attributed to the causes like genetic, physiological, environmental, nutritional, and hormonal (Sharma et al., 2019; Stander et al., 2018), the existing studies have not reached a consistent conclusion on the causal relationship between alternate bearing and nutrient constraints and Stander et al. (2018) indicated that changes in leaf macronutrient concentration in leaves can be considered a consequence of, rather than a cause of, differences in fruit load from one season to another. However, it has been proved that cool temperatures around 15–20°C and good light conditions induce greater flowering and fruit setting, respectively, in several tropical and subtropical perennial fruit trees including citrus. As a sequence, the citrus tree produces heavy crop and gets nutritionally exhausted, unable to put forth new flush in one season, which result in heavy fruit loading in “on” year followed “off” year in the next season (Sharma et al., 2019). 6.1.2 Control The key to the prevention and control alternate bearing is to keep the number of fruit bearing reasonably according to the ratio of leaf to fruit with the aid of suitable pruning, thinning, and proper fertilization.
6.2 Fruit drop 6.2.1 Causes The causes attributed to fruit drop in citrus are the lack of fertilization, mechanical shock, insects, disease, high temperature, rainfall, and defective irrational practices. The most pronounced stages of fruit drop occur when the fruits are at marble stage. It lasts for a month after full bloom. On the onset of hot summer weather during May-June, the second wave of intense fruit drop occurs, while preharvest drop occurs during ripening period, which lasts from August to January. 6.2.2 Control The method of control depends upon the causes of the drop and the variety of the fruit. To reduce the preharvest drop, NAA (10 ppm) is sprayed from August till October at monthly interval.
6.3 Fruit splitting or cracking 6.3.1 Causes This is mainly a physiological disorder and is largely attributed to high atmospheric humidity following heavy rains or heavy irrigation during hot weather. Two types of splitting, namely, radial and transverse, have been noticed. Radial cracking is more common than transverse one. Partial splitting is more prevalent, while splitting down to inner core is rather rare. Often, the cracked surface of the fruit gets infected by disease causing organisms such as Aspergillus, Alternaria, Fusarium, and Penicillium, which lead to partial rotting and early fruit dropping from trees. 6.3.2 Control The disease can be minimized by frequent and light irritations during the dry and hot periods and early picking of fruits soon after maturity.
6 Causes and management of important physiological disorders
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6.4 Cold pitting (peel pitting) 6.4.1 Causes The cause of preharvest peel pitting is not well known, although cold and dry winds, low temperature, and relative humidity have been suggested as responsible for pitting. These climatic conditions change the physiological properties of membranes and cuticles and modify the water balance of injured areas. 6.4.2 Control The application of calcium nitrate just before or at fruit color break has been shown to be effective in controlling preharvest peel pitting of “Fortune” mandarin. There is evidence of a relationship between the reduction of peel pitting and the decrease of water permeability associated with the use of calcium nitrate.
6.5 Puffing 6.5.1 Causes The cause of puffing has been related to the water exchange regulation through the peel. Accordingly, high values of RH together with high temperatures at fruit color break increase the appearance and intensity of puffing, particularly after a period of drought. 6.5.2 Control The application of 10 mg/L of GA3 before fruit color break reduces the occurrence of puffing in Satsuma mandarin. The GA3 treatment prevents the late growth of the peel and increases the compactness of the albedo. The addition of nitrogen compounds reinforces the effect of GA3. The main internal fruit characteristics are not modified by such treatments.
6.6 Creasing 6.6.1 Causes The cause of creasing is not yet clearly understood. Climatic factors, cultural practices, and endogenous factors have been related with this physiological disorder. Several mineral elements have been also related to creasing, with molybdenum (Mo) being of critical importance. 6.6.2 Control The application of GA3 (10–20 mg/L) at early stages of fruit development or just prior to fruit color break reduce considerably the incidence of creasing. As for puffiness, the addition of nitrogen compounds reinforces its effect. It had a strong inhibition effect on color development when applied close to color break.
6.7 Navel rind stain (rind breakdown) The cause of this physiological disorder has been related to nutritional imbalances, drought, and rainy periods in alternation with cold periods. The incidence of navel rind stain varies in intensity from year to year, among orchards and even among varieties, affecting up to 50% of mature fruits in some cases, such as “Navelate” in Spain. Fruit position on the tree has shown as important factor in developing rind breakdown, fruits outside of canopy being most sensitive fruits, and the outside face of fruit being more sensitive than the inside face. In “Navelate” oranges stored at 20°C, transference of fruit from low (45%) to high (95%) RH starts or aggravates the incidence of this disorder. 6.7.1 Control Nowadays, we have not effective treatments to control it. However, rootstock plays an important influence in the development of the disorder. Carrizo citrange is more susceptible than Cleopatra mandarin, and it, in turn, is more than sour orange. This dependence has been related to rootstock influence on water transpiration capacity, supported by the histological study of fruit peduncle.
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4. Plant nutrition and physiological disorders in fruit crops
6.8 Oleocellosis 6.8.1 Causes It is caused by rind oil release when oil cells get ruptured during harvesting or during handling from the field to the pack house. Careful harvesting and handling reduce incidence of oleocellosis. Rind oil from ruptured cells discolors the skin making the fruit unmarketable. 6.8.2 Control Best way to reduce its incidence is to cure the fruit overnight at a temperature of 18–20°C for 12–24 h, before the fruit is moved from the field to the pack house.
6.9 Granulation 6.9.1 Causes The terms granulation, crystallization, and dry end are used to describe this trouble. It is much more prevalent in larger sized fruits than in small fruit, in young than in old trees, and in humid than in dry areas. Several factors like luxuriant growth, rootstock and the variety, frequent irrigation, mineral constituents in plant tissue, time of harvest, and exposure to sunlight are found to be associated with this malady. And the plant tissues contain high Ca and Mn and low P and B in the areas with high incidence of granulation. The incidence is relatively high in the fruits of younger plants as compared with those in older plants. The vigorous rootstocks like rough lemon increase the incidence of granulation as compared with less vigorous rootstocks. Late maturity and persistent cold weather throughout the period of maturity have been found to increase the incidence of granulation. 6.9.2 Control The incidence of granulation could be reduced to 50% by applying two to three sprays of NAA (300 ppm) in the months of August, September, and October. Spraying of GA 15 ppm followed by NAA 300 ppm in October and November also reduce granulation.
7 Future lines of research In fact, most physiological disorders are linked to plant nutrition, which is the external expression of multiple factors such as physiological activity, dosage, and interaction between elements and external environment of elements in the tree, so it is a systematic project to control the occurrence of these disorders through plant nutrition management. Although the researchers at home and abroad have done some work in the relationship between these disorders and mineral elements, as a system engineering, there are still many deficiencies, such as insufficient research on the mechanism of interaction between elements, and the application research is not universal. Combined with the existing problems in the current research, our future research focus is (1) to strengthen the research on the mechanism of interaction. So far, the effects of plant nutrition on controlling these disorders are generally judged by external indicators such as disease index, but the research on its mechanism, such as the change of enzyme activity and metabolic process, is less. To promote the application of these disorders’ regulations from the perspective of plant nutrition management, it is necessary to clarify the relationship between plant nutrition and disorders at the molecular level. (2) Much researches have been done to study the interaction of elements, but the research on the interaction of elements from the perspective of plant nutrition on disorders is not systematic. Using nutrition coordination of the prevention and cure of the occurrence of these disorders, in addition to fruit crop diversity and complexity of the pathogen, should also fully consider the elements of individual action and interaction, clear the role of each factor, and coordinate the relationship between each element and fruit trees; the guarantee of reasonable application with various nutritional elements can not only provide sufficient nutrients to the tree body and can effectively improve the disorders resistance of fruit tree. (3) At present, most of the research results are limited to the theoretical application, and the case of combining theory with production success is rarely reported. It is feasible to regulate mineral nutrition to improve the disorder resistance of fruit trees, and balanced nutrition, as a supplement of chemical control, agricultural control, and biological control measures, has great development potential and research space and is a new approach worthy of discussion. On the basis of further enriching the content of studying disorders of fruit tree from the perspective of plant nutrition and elevating it to the height of the discipline, the theory should
References
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be applied to the production practice of reducing pesticide and fertilizer consumption, reducing environmental pollution and increasing yield.
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Liu, G.D., Wang, R.D., Liu, L.C., Wu, L.S., Jiang, C.C., 2013. Cellular boron allocation and pectin composition in two citrus rootstock seedlings differing in boron-deficiency response. Plant Soil 370, 555–565. Martinelli, F., Ibanez, A.M., Reagan, R.L., Davino, S., Dandekar, A.M., 2015. Stress responses in citrus peel: comparative analysis of host responses to Huanglongbing disorders and puffing disorder. Sci. Hortic. 192, 409–420. Mehouachi, J., Serna, D., Zaragoza, S., Agusti, M., Talon, M., Primo-Millo, E., 1995. Defoliation increases fruit abscission and reduces carbohydrate levels in developing fruits and woody tissues of Citrus unshiu. Plant Sci. 107, 189–197. Mesejo, C., Reig, C., Martinez-Fuentes, A., Gambetta, G., Gravina, A., Agusti, M., 2016. Tree water status influences fruit splitting in Citrus. Sci. Hortic. 209, 96–104. Mishra, D.S., Tripathi, A., Nimbolkar, P.K., 2016. Review on physiological disorders of tropical and subtropical fruits: causes and management approach. Int. J. Agric. Environ. Biotechnol. 9, 925–935. Monselise, S.P., Goldschmidt, E.E., 1982. Alternate bearing in fruit trees. Hortic. Rev. 5, 129–173. Montero, C.R.S., Schwarz, L.L., dos Santos, L.C., dos Santos, R.P., Bender, R.J., 2012. Oleocellosis incidence in citrus fruit in response to mechanical injuries. Sci. Hortic. 134, 227–231. Ogata, T., Hirota, T., Shiozaki, S., Horiuchi, S., Kawase, K., Ohashi, M., 2002. Effects of aminoethoxyvinylglycine and high temperatures on fruit set and fruit characteristics of heat-cultured satsuma mandarin. J. Jpn. Soc. Hortic. Sci. 71, 348–354. Petracek, P.D., Dou, H., Pao, S., 1998. The influence of applied waxes on postharvest physiological behavior and pitting of grapefruit. Postharvest Biol. Technol. 14, 99–106. Rebolledo, R., García-Luis, A., Guardiola, B., Luis, J., 2012. Effect of 2.4-D exogenous application on the abscission and fruit growth in Sweet orange. var. Salustiana. Agron. Colomb. 30, 34–40. Ritenour, M.A., Albrigo, L.G., Burns, J.K., Miller, W.M., 2004. Granulation in Florida citrus. Proc. Fla. State Hortic. Soc. 117, 358–361. Schaffer, A.A., Goldschmidt, E.E., Goren, R., Galili, D., 1985. Fruit-set and carbohydrate status in alternate and nonalternate bearing citrus cultivars. J. Am. Soc. Hortic. Sci. 110, 574–578. Schutzki, R.E., Cregg, B., 2007. Abiotic Plant Disorders: Symptoms, Signs and Solutions: A Diagnostic Guide to Problem Solving. Michigan State University Extension.
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Sharma, N., Singh, S.K., Mahato, A.K., Ravishankar, H., Dubey, A.K., Singh, N.K., 2019. Physiological and molecular basis of alternate bearing in perennial fruit crops. Sci. Hortic. 243, 214–225. Shomer, I., Erner, Y., 1989. The nature of oleocellosis in citrus-fruits. Bot. Gaz. 150, 281–288. Singh, R., 2001. 65-year research on citrus granulation. Indian J. Hortic. 58, 112–144. Srivastava, A.K., 2013a. Nutrient deficiency symptomology in citrus: an effective diagnostic tool or just an aid for post–mortem analysis. Agric. Adv. 2, 177–194. Srivastava, A.K., 2013b. Recent developments in diagnosis and management of nutrient constraints in acid lime. Sci. J. Agric. (Agric. Adv.) 2, 86–96. Srivastava, A.K., Singh, S., 2006. Diagnosis of nutrient constraints in citrus orchards of humid tropical India. J. Plant Nutr. 29, 1061–1076. Srivastava, A.K., Singh, S., 2009. Citrus decline: soil fertility and plant nutrition. J. Plant Nutr. 32, 197–245. Stander, O.P.J., Barry, G.H., Cronje, P.J.R., 2018. The significance of macronutrients in alternate bearing ‘Nadorcott’ mandarin trees. HortScience 53, 1600–1609. Stewart, I., Leonard, C.D., 1951. Citrus Nutrition Studies. Molybdenum Deficiency. . Storey, R., Treeby, M.T., 1994. The morphology of epicuticular wax and albedo cells of orange fruit in relation to albedo breakdown. J. Hortic. Sci. 69, 329–338. Tao, M.M., Ying, H., Sun, Q., Tan, Q.L., Li, C., Hu, C.X., 2016. Soil and plant nutrient status of citrus orchard in Hubei and Hunan Province. Hubei Agric. Sci.. 55, 3289–3293, 3297. Thompson, C.R., Taylor, O.C., 1969. Effects of air pollutants on growth, leaf drop, fruit drop, and yield of citrus trees. Environ. Sci. Technol. 3, 934–940. Wallace, T., 1934. II. Some physiological disorders of fruit trees. Ann. Appl. Biol. 21, 322–333. Wu, X.W., Lu, X.P., Riaz, M., Yan, L., Jiang, C.C., 2018. Boron deficiency and toxicity altered the subcellular structure and cell wall composition architecture in two citrus rootstocks. Sci. Hortic. 238, 147–154. Xiong, B., Ye, S., Qiu, X., Liao, L., Sun, G.C., Luo, J.Y., Dai, L., Rong, Y., Wang, Z.H., 2017. Exogenous spermidine alleviates fruit granulation in a citrus cultivar (Huangguogan) through the antioxidant pathway. Acta Physiol. Plant.. 39. Zaragoza, S., Alonso, E., 1975. El manchado de la corteza de los agrios: estudio preliminar en la variedad ‘Navelate’. Manchas pre-recolección. INIA Ser. Prot. Veg. 4, 31–32. Zheng, Y.Q., He, S.L., Yi, S.L., Zhou, Z.Q., Mao, S.S., Zhao, X.Y., Deng, L., 2010a. Characteristics and oleocellosis sensitivity of citrus fruits. Sci. Hortic. 123, 312–317. Zheng, Y.Q., He, S.L., Yi, S.L., Zhou, Z.Q., Mao, S.S., Zhao, X.Y., Deng, L., 2010b. Predicting oleocellosis sensitivity in citrus using VNIR reflectance spectroscopy. Sci. Hortic. 125, 401–405. Zheng, Y.Q., Deng, L., He, S.L., Zhou, Z.Q., Yi, S.L., Zhao, X.Y., Wang, L.A., 2011. Rootstocks influence fruit oleocellosis in ‘Hamlin’ sweet orange (Citrus sinensis L. Osbeck). Sci. Hortic. 128, 108–114. Zheng, Y., Jia, X.-m., Yang, Q., Liu, Y.-m., Xie, R.-j., Ma, Y.-y., He, S.-l., Deng, L.J.A.P.P., 2016. Role of Ca2+ and calmodulin in on-tree oleocellosis tolerance of Newhall navel orange. Acta Physiol. Plant. 38, 194. Zheng, Y., Wang, Y., Yang, Q., Liu, Y., Xie, R., He, S., Deng, L., Yi, S., Lv, Q., Ma, Y., 2018. Modulation of tolerance of “Hamlin” sweet orange grown on three rootstocks to on-tree oleocellosis by summer plant water balance supply. Sci. Hortic. 238, 155–162. Zur, N., Shlizerman, L., Ben-Ari, G., Sadka, A., 2017. Use of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to study and predict fruit splitting in citrus. Hortic. J. 86, 151–158.
4 Plant nutrition and physiological disorders in fruit crops Yongqiang Zhenga,*, YanYan Mab, Wenhuan Liub, Fangying Qiub a
Citrus Research Institute, Southwest University-Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Chongqing, China National Engineering Research Center for Citrus Technology/Citrus Research Institute, Southwest University-Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Chongqing, China *Corresponding author. E-mail: [email protected]
b
O U T L I N E 1 Introduction
47
2 Definition of physiological disorders
48
3 Classification of physiological disorders
48
4 Visual symptoms of nutrient deficiency disorders
49
5 Visual symptoms of some important physiological disorders 5.1 Alternate bearing 5.2 Fruit drop 5.3 Fruit splitting or cracking 5.4 Cold pitting (peel pitting) 5.5 Puffing 5.6 Creasing (albedo breakdown) 5.7 Navel rind stain (rind breakdown) 5.8 Oleocellosis
50 50 50 51 52 52 52 52 52
5.9 Granulation 5.10 Predicting disorder incidence
52 53
6 Causes and management of important physiological disorders 6.1 Alternate bearing 6.2 Fruit drop 6.3 Fruit splitting or cracking 6.4 Cold pitting (peel pitting) 6.5 Puffing 6.6 Creasing 6.7 Navel rind stain (rind breakdown) 6.8 Oleocellosis 6.9 Granulation
54 54 54 54 55 55 55 55 56 56
7 Future lines of research
56
References
57
1 Introduction Apart from insects, pests, and diseases, fruit crops like citrus are very prone to develop different physiological disorders. Some physiological disorders may occur due to one factor either nutritional such as creasing (Bower, 2004) or weather conditions such as sunburn. However, most of the disorders associated with more than one factors like environment and nutrition such as on-tree oleocellosis (Zheng et al., 2016, 2018). In this chapter, we have focused on the classification, criteria of distinguishing, mineral markers, preharvest factors, diagnosis, and management of the important physiological disorders such as alternate bearing, fruit drop, granulation, oleocellosis, cold scald, and stem-end browning, which cause economic losses worldwide (Mishra et al., 2016; Zheng et al., 2011).
A.K. Srivastava, Chengxiao Hu (eds.) Fruit Crops: Diagnosis and Management of Nutrient Constraints https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-818732-6.00004-6
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© 2020 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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4. Plant nutrition and physiological disorders in fruit crops
2 Definition of physiological disorders Physiological disorders are a group of disorders affecting fruit quality and fruit crop caused by nonpathogenic factors (Fig. 4.1) such as environment stresses (temperature, relative humidity, water stress, air pollutants, etc.), nutrient deficiencies or toxicities, chemicals (herbicides, pesticides, etc.), and some genetic factors, which result in abnormal external or internal conditions and abnormal growth pattern of fruits (Wallace, 1934). Therefore, the physiological disorders are distinguished from plant diseases caused by plant pathogens (fungi, bacteria, and viruses) and animal herbivores (insects) (Schutzki and Cregg, 2007). Although the symptoms of physiological disorders may appear diseaselike, they can usually be prevented by altering environmental conditions. However, once a plant shows symptoms of a physiological disorder, it is likely that the season’s growth or yield will be reduced.
3 Classification of physiological disorders The productivity and quality of fruits are affected to a greater extent due to physiological disorders and nutrient constraints (Srivastava, 2013b). The physiological disorders of fruit crops occur at both preharvest and postharvest periods according to the occurrence stage (Chikaizumi, 2002; Lafuente and Zacarias, 2006), which can be categorized in various types on the basis of causal factors (Ladaniya, 2008; Mishra et al., 2016; Schutzki and Cregg, 2007). Among these disorders, nutrient constraints have been recorded in nearly all the geographical regions where commercial citrus plantations have been established. As can be seen from Table 4.1, the most often encountered constraints result from inadequate supplies of macronutrients (typically N, P, or K) (Agustí et al., 2014) and
FIG. 4.1 Causes can result in physiological disorders in citrus plantations.
TABLE 4.1
Occurrence of nutrient deficiencies in citrus plantations. N
P
Argentina
●
Australia
●
●
●
●
Egypt
●
●
Mg
S
●
Fe
Mn
B
●
●
Italy
●
Japan
●
Spain The United States
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
Mo
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
● ●
Iran
India
Zn
●
●
Israel
Cu
●
●
●
China
Ca
●
●
Brazil Chile
K
●
● ●
●
● ● ●
●
●
●
●
●
●
● ●
●
●
●
49
4 Visual symptoms of nutrient deficiency disorders
TABLE 4.2 Occurrence period and relative cause of the important physiological disorders in citrus plantations. Disorders
Occurrence stage
Temperature
Alternate bearing
Preharvest
●
Fruit drop
Preharvest
●
●
●
Fruit splitting
Preharvest
●
●
Rind breakdown
Preharvest Postharvest
●
Oleocellosis
Preharvest Postharvest
●
Creasing
Preharvest
Granulation
Preharvest Postharvest
●
Water stress
Nutrient constraints
Air pollutants
Genetic factor
References
●
Sharma et al. (2019)
●
Goren (1993), Mehouachi et al. (1995), Ogata et al. (2002), Thompson and Taylor (1969)
●
●
Cronje et al. (2013)
●
●
●
Alferez et al. (2001)
●
●
●
Knight et al. (2002), Montero et al. (2012), Zheng et al. (2016), Zheng et al. (2018)
●
●
●
Bower (2004), Hussain and Singh (2015)
● ●
Chemicals
●
Ritenour et al. (2004)
micronutrients constraints (particularly Fe, Mn, Cu, and Zn), which resulted from the application of fertilizers containing only macronutrients (i.e., N, P, K, Ca, Mg, and S), instances of primary B deficiency (Liu et al., 2013; Wu et al., 2018) and Mo deficiency (Stewart and Leonard, 1951; Tao et al., 2016) in China and the United States have been documented. Moreover, some important physiological disorders like alternate bearing, fruit drop, splitting, rind breakdown, oleocellosis, creasing, granulation, and chilling injury, which are almost related to environmental factors (temperature and water stress), nutrient constraints, and genetic factor (Table 4.2) (Agustí et al., 2014; de Oliveira and Vitória, 2011).
4 Visual symptoms of nutrient deficiency disorders The morphological descriptors are commonly used to identify nutritional disorders at citrus orchard level (Srivastava, 2013a; Srivastava and Singh, 2006). Fortunately, the symptoms of nutrient deficiency follow patterns of expression, which depend on the mobility of nutrients in plants (Table 4.3) with typical leaf color illustrations of nutrient constraints that can easily be distinguished (Fig. 4.2), and the degree of deficiency is measured by the severity of symptoms and number of growth terminals affected (Srivastava and Singh, 2009).
TABLE 4.3 Mobility of nutrients in the phloem in plants. Highly mobile
Variably mobile
Immobile
Nitrogen
Copper
Boron
Phosphorus
Magnesium
Calcium
Potassium
Molybdenum
Iron
Sulfur
Manganese
Zinc
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4. Plant nutrition and physiological disorders in fruit crops
FIG. 4.2 Patterns of symptom organs used to establish nutrient deficiencies diagnosis.
5 Visual symptoms of some important physiological disorders Sometimes physiological disorders also directly related to malfunctions of fruit development induced by environmental factors (Figs. 4.3 and 4.4). The most extensive description of physiological disorders in citrus is given by Agustí et al. (2002, 2014) and Zheng et al. (2010a) for extensive knowledge.
5.1 Alternate bearing Alternate bearing is a problematic phenomenon that occurs in fruit crops (Monselise and Goldschmidt, 1982). In citrus, the “on” crop is characterized by a large number of small fruit in one season followed by the “off” crop typically consists of few and large fruit (Agusti et al., 1992; Monselise and Goldschmidt, 1982; Schaffer et al., 1985).
5.2 Fruit drop In citrus, there are three successive abscission waves affecting flowers, and developing fruitlets can be distinguished, which occur flower and ovary abscission (Fig. 4.3A), June drop (Fig. 4.3B), and preharvest drop
5 Visual symptoms of some important physiological disorders
FIG. 4.3
51
The three successive abscission waves occur during (A) flower and ovary abscission, (B) June drop, and (C) preharvest drop.
FIG. 4.4 Physiological citrus fruit disorders. (A) Splitting in “Nova” mandarin. (B) Peel pitting in “Marsh” grapefruit. (C) Puffing in Satsuma fruit. (D) Creasing in Clementine mandarin. (E) Albedo breakdown in a clementine fruit showing creasing. (F) Navel rind stain. (G and H) Peel senescence in clementine mandarin. (I) Navel fruit abscission (Agustí et al., 2014).
(Fig. 4.3C), respectively, resulting in extremely low fruit set (<0.5%) even in healthy, well-managed citrus orchards (Iglesias et al., 2006; Rebolledo et al., 2012).
5.3 Fruit splitting or cracking Citrus fruits, especially acid limes and mandarins, develop a fissure of the peel, usually developing from the stylar end and reaching, or even extending beyond, the equatorial zone (Fig. 4.4A) (Cronje et al., 2013; Mesejo et al., 2016).
52
4. Plant nutrition and physiological disorders in fruit crops
5.4 Cold pitting (peel pitting) Cold pitting or peel pitting is a physiological disorder usually occur during postharvest storage stage, which starts on fruit as discrete areas forming sunken reddish-brown (dark gray in the print version) to black lesions that tend to coalesce producing larger depressions of affected areas (Fig. 4.4B), but in some varieties, such as “Fortune” mandarin and “Marsh” grapefruit, it also can appear during preharvest stage (Cronje et al., 2017).
5.5 Puffing Puffing is characterized by the disintegration of the deepest cell layers of the albedo tissue that gives rise to separation aerial spaces between peel and pulp, which results in a cracked and low-resistant albedo in mature fruits (Fig. 4.4C). This disorder takes place only in a few mandarin varieties, which are susceptible to puffing, like “Satsuma” mandarin or “Oroval” clementine mandarin (Ibáñez et al., 2014; Martinelli et al., 2015).
5.6 Creasing (albedo breakdown) Creasing, a peel-related preharvest disorder, affects different cultivars of sweet orange including Washington Navel (Greenberg et al., 2010), Valencia ( Jona et al., 1989), and Nova mandarins (Greenberg et al., 2006). The disorder consists of depressions on the flavedo that alternate with healthy areas that turn bulky (Fig. 4.4D and E) due to the separation of adjacent cells rather than cleavage of individual cells ( Jones et al., 1967; Storey and Treeby, 1994). However, the disorder sometimes takes place with no damage to the cells so that cells retain their turgor, but many cells are irreparable damaged and lose their turgor and wall collapses.
5.7 Navel rind stain (rind breakdown) The navel orange varieties like “Navelina,” “Washington,” and “Lane late” have been proved to be highly sensitive to rind breakdown during ripening under Mediterranean climatic conditions (Zaragoza and Alonso, 1975) and postharvest storage (Alferez et al., 2001; Cronje et al., 2011). The disorder begins at the flavedo-albedo union area, where the cells become dehydrated and flattened, and finally die, which result in reddish-brown sunken areas (dark gray in the print version), especially for dry areas partially covering the exposed portion of the mature fruits (Fig. 4.4F). A similar disorder has also been described in grapefruit, “Fallglo” tangerine (Petracek et al., 1998).
5.8 Oleocellosis Oleocellosis (or oil spotting) is a physiological disorder that occurs after the rupture of the peel oil gland, causing obviously visible pitting due to the released oil, which is phytotoxic to pericarp cells (Shomer and Erner, 1989), and citrus fruit is highly sensitive to oleocellosis during both the postharvest storage and on-tree ripening, termed as postharvest oleocellosis (PHO) and on-tree oleocellosis (OTO), respectively (Zheng et al., 2016, 2018). In addition, the symptoms were significantly different in different stages. At the stage of fruit expansion, OTO results in light green (dark gray in the print version) and smaller than 0.8 cm due to the low maturity of fruit (Fig. 4.5A), and PHO often appears >1.0 cm in lesions of oleocellosis with yellow spots (white spots in the print version) (Fig. 4.5B) due to various mechanical injuries during harvesting, handling, and marketing. Sometimes, the PHO spots color deepening to brown (dark gray in the print version) with the extension of storage time (Fig. 4.5C).
5.9 Granulation Granulation (also called crystallization or section drying) is a serious physiological disorders in most of the citrusgrowing countries. In citrus, this disorder affects fruit juice sacs, which turn gray and become hard, dry, and enlarged, with little extractable juice (Fig. 4.6) (Ritenour et al., 2004). Sweet orange cultivars (pineapple, Washington Navel, Hamlin, blood red, Mosambi, and Valencia late), mandarin cultivars (Kaula, Nagpur, and Dancy), and citrus hybrid in China (Huangguogan) suffer from granulation more than others like grapefruit, pummelo, lemons, limes, tangors, and tangelos (Singh, 2001; Xiong et al., 2017).
53
5 Visual symptoms of some important physiological disorders
FIG. 4.5 Oleocellosis symptoms in different periods. (A) Fruit coloring stage; (B) fruit harvest time after mechanical injury; (C) postharvest storage period (Zheng et al., 2010a).
FIG. 4.6
Granulation of navel orange.
5.10 Predicting disorder incidence In the last 30 years, the occurrence mechanism of some physiological and nutrient disorders is understood clearly, so that the incidence of these disorders can be reduced by predicting potential incidence according to the significant relationships between causal factors and disorder incidence, or premature expression of the disorder by artificial means. In view of OTO in citrus, preharvest factors, such as those contributing to the strong pit relationship between diurnal range of rind oil release pressure (ΔRORP) and the incidence of OTO per tree (IOPT) have been proved, and ΔRORP and ROS scavenging capacity could be selected as indicators to assess IOPT and SOPT, respectively (Zheng et al., 2018). Jim Hill (The South Australian Research and Development Institute (SARDI)) has developed inexpensive instruments to measure relevant environmental conditions and the rind turgor pressure in citrus. These instruments were sold as an “oleocellosis prediction kit” ( Jim, 2004). However, fruits need to be destroyed for this procedure. Zheng et al. (2010b) have formed the basis for commercial disorder prediction schemes by using VNIR reflectance spectroscopy. These results provide fundamental and practical knowledge for the development of a nondestructive, fast, and accurate technology for classifying fruit oleocellosis based on spectral reflectance (Fig. 4.7). 1.4 1.2
1.6
Actual RO × Predicted RO
Actual RO Predicted RO
1.4
Actual DO Predicted DO
1.2
1.0
1.0
0.8
DO
RO
Actual DO × Predicted DO
0.6
0.8 0.6 0.4
0.4
0.2 0.2 0.0
0.0
(A) 1
2
3
4
5
(B) 1
2
3
4
5
Harvest phase
FIG. 4.7 Changes in fruit oleocellosis attributes (actual and predicted rate of oleocellosis (A) and actual and predicted degree of oleocellosis (B)) with different harvest phases. (**) Significant at P < .01 (Zheng et al., 2010b).
54
4. Plant nutrition and physiological disorders in fruit crops
Similar attempts to use magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to study and predict fruit splitting in citrus (Zur et al., 2017), and the power of MRI can predict splitting probability as early as 2 months before split fruit.
6 Causes and management of important physiological disorders There will inevitably be a reduction in the yield and quality once symptoms appear in citrus orchards (Srivastava, 2013a). Therefore, it is necessary to learn about the causes and management approach of important physiological disorders.
6.1 Alternate bearing 6.1.1 Causes Although the problem has been attributed to the causes like genetic, physiological, environmental, nutritional, and hormonal (Sharma et al., 2019; Stander et al., 2018), the existing studies have not reached a consistent conclusion on the causal relationship between alternate bearing and nutrient constraints and Stander et al. (2018) indicated that changes in leaf macronutrient concentration in leaves can be considered a consequence of, rather than a cause of, differences in fruit load from one season to another. However, it has been proved that cool temperatures around 15–20°C and good light conditions induce greater flowering and fruit setting, respectively, in several tropical and subtropical perennial fruit trees including citrus. As a sequence, the citrus tree produces heavy crop and gets nutritionally exhausted, unable to put forth new flush in one season, which result in heavy fruit loading in “on” year followed “off” year in the next season (Sharma et al., 2019). 6.1.2 Control The key to the prevention and control alternate bearing is to keep the number of fruit bearing reasonably according to the ratio of leaf to fruit with the aid of suitable pruning, thinning, and proper fertilization.
6.2 Fruit drop 6.2.1 Causes The causes attributed to fruit drop in citrus are the lack of fertilization, mechanical shock, insects, disease, high temperature, rainfall, and defective irrational practices. The most pronounced stages of fruit drop occur when the fruits are at marble stage. It lasts for a month after full bloom. On the onset of hot summer weather during May-June, the second wave of intense fruit drop occurs, while preharvest drop occurs during ripening period, which lasts from August to January. 6.2.2 Control The method of control depends upon the causes of the drop and the variety of the fruit. To reduce the preharvest drop, NAA (10 ppm) is sprayed from August till October at monthly interval.
6.3 Fruit splitting or cracking 6.3.1 Causes This is mainly a physiological disorder and is largely attributed to high atmospheric humidity following heavy rains or heavy irrigation during hot weather. Two types of splitting, namely, radial and transverse, have been noticed. Radial cracking is more common than transverse one. Partial splitting is more prevalent, while splitting down to inner core is rather rare. Often, the cracked surface of the fruit gets infected by disease causing organisms such as Aspergillus, Alternaria, Fusarium, and Penicillium, which lead to partial rotting and early fruit dropping from trees. 6.3.2 Control The disease can be minimized by frequent and light irritations during the dry and hot periods and early picking of fruits soon after maturity.
6 Causes and management of important physiological disorders
55
6.4 Cold pitting (peel pitting) 6.4.1 Causes The cause of preharvest peel pitting is not well known, although cold and dry winds, low temperature, and relative humidity have been suggested as responsible for pitting. These climatic conditions change the physiological properties of membranes and cuticles and modify the water balance of injured areas. 6.4.2 Control The application of calcium nitrate just before or at fruit color break has been shown to be effective in controlling preharvest peel pitting of “Fortune” mandarin. There is evidence of a relationship between the reduction of peel pitting and the decrease of water permeability associated with the use of calcium nitrate.
6.5 Puffing 6.5.1 Causes The cause of puffing has been related to the water exchange regulation through the peel. Accordingly, high values of RH together with high temperatures at fruit color break increase the appearance and intensity of puffing, particularly after a period of drought. 6.5.2 Control The application of 10 mg/L of GA3 before fruit color break reduces the occurrence of puffing in Satsuma mandarin. The GA3 treatment prevents the late growth of the peel and increases the compactness of the albedo. The addition of nitrogen compounds reinforces the effect of GA3. The main internal fruit characteristics are not modified by such treatments.
6.6 Creasing 6.6.1 Causes The cause of creasing is not yet clearly understood. Climatic factors, cultural practices, and endogenous factors have been related with this physiological disorder. Several mineral elements have been also related to creasing, with molybdenum (Mo) being of critical importance. 6.6.2 Control The application of GA3 (10–20 mg/L) at early stages of fruit development or just prior to fruit color break reduce considerably the incidence of creasing. As for puffiness, the addition of nitrogen compounds reinforces its effect. It had a strong inhibition effect on color development when applied close to color break.
6.7 Navel rind stain (rind breakdown) The cause of this physiological disorder has been related to nutritional imbalances, drought, and rainy periods in alternation with cold periods. The incidence of navel rind stain varies in intensity from year to year, among orchards and even among varieties, affecting up to 50% of mature fruits in some cases, such as “Navelate” in Spain. Fruit position on the tree has shown as important factor in developing rind breakdown, fruits outside of canopy being most sensitive fruits, and the outside face of fruit being more sensitive than the inside face. In “Navelate” oranges stored at 20°C, transference of fruit from low (45%) to high (95%) RH starts or aggravates the incidence of this disorder. 6.7.1 Control Nowadays, we have not effective treatments to control it. However, rootstock plays an important influence in the development of the disorder. Carrizo citrange is more susceptible than Cleopatra mandarin, and it, in turn, is more than sour orange. This dependence has been related to rootstock influence on water transpiration capacity, supported by the histological study of fruit peduncle.
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4. Plant nutrition and physiological disorders in fruit crops
6.8 Oleocellosis 6.8.1 Causes It is caused by rind oil release when oil cells get ruptured during harvesting or during handling from the field to the pack house. Careful harvesting and handling reduce incidence of oleocellosis. Rind oil from ruptured cells discolors the skin making the fruit unmarketable. 6.8.2 Control Best way to reduce its incidence is to cure the fruit overnight at a temperature of 18–20°C for 12–24 h, before the fruit is moved from the field to the pack house.
6.9 Granulation 6.9.1 Causes The terms granulation, crystallization, and dry end are used to describe this trouble. It is much more prevalent in larger sized fruits than in small fruit, in young than in old trees, and in humid than in dry areas. Several factors like luxuriant growth, rootstock and the variety, frequent irrigation, mineral constituents in plant tissue, time of harvest, and exposure to sunlight are found to be associated with this malady. And the plant tissues contain high Ca and Mn and low P and B in the areas with high incidence of granulation. The incidence is relatively high in the fruits of younger plants as compared with those in older plants. The vigorous rootstocks like rough lemon increase the incidence of granulation as compared with less vigorous rootstocks. Late maturity and persistent cold weather throughout the period of maturity have been found to increase the incidence of granulation. 6.9.2 Control The incidence of granulation could be reduced to 50% by applying two to three sprays of NAA (300 ppm) in the months of August, September, and October. Spraying of GA 15 ppm followed by NAA 300 ppm in October and November also reduce granulation.
7 Future lines of research In fact, most physiological disorders are linked to plant nutrition, which is the external expression of multiple factors such as physiological activity, dosage, and interaction between elements and external environment of elements in the tree, so it is a systematic project to control the occurrence of these disorders through plant nutrition management. Although the researchers at home and abroad have done some work in the relationship between these disorders and mineral elements, as a system engineering, there are still many deficiencies, such as insufficient research on the mechanism of interaction between elements, and the application research is not universal. Combined with the existing problems in the current research, our future research focus is (1) to strengthen the research on the mechanism of interaction. So far, the effects of plant nutrition on controlling these disorders are generally judged by external indicators such as disease index, but the research on its mechanism, such as the change of enzyme activity and metabolic process, is less. To promote the application of these disorders’ regulations from the perspective of plant nutrition management, it is necessary to clarify the relationship between plant nutrition and disorders at the molecular level. (2) Much researches have been done to study the interaction of elements, but the research on the interaction of elements from the perspective of plant nutrition on disorders is not systematic. Using nutrition coordination of the prevention and cure of the occurrence of these disorders, in addition to fruit crop diversity and complexity of the pathogen, should also fully consider the elements of individual action and interaction, clear the role of each factor, and coordinate the relationship between each element and fruit trees; the guarantee of reasonable application with various nutritional elements can not only provide sufficient nutrients to the tree body and can effectively improve the disorders resistance of fruit tree. (3) At present, most of the research results are limited to the theoretical application, and the case of combining theory with production success is rarely reported. It is feasible to regulate mineral nutrition to improve the disorder resistance of fruit trees, and balanced nutrition, as a supplement of chemical control, agricultural control, and biological control measures, has great development potential and research space and is a new approach worthy of discussion. On the basis of further enriching the content of studying disorders of fruit tree from the perspective of plant nutrition and elevating it to the height of the discipline, the theory should
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be applied to the production practice of reducing pesticide and fertilizer consumption, reducing environmental pollution and increasing yield.
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