LEADING SYSTEMS AND VIABILITY OF CITRIC BUDS IN HYDROPONICS

ABSTRACT The purpose of this experiment was to evaluate the production of budstocks and the viability of the buds of the ‘Valencia’ and ‘Pera’ orange tree varieties in a hydroponic system. The experiment was arranged in a completely randomized design in a 2 × 3 factorial scheme. The two orange varieties were grafted onto the Rangpur lime tree with three leading systems (single stem, two stems, and three stems) and three replications of 10 plants per plot. The time that elapsed between pruning the stems at 40 cm and the first collection, as well as the time between each harvest were determined. The number of buds in the median part of the stems and percentage of viable buds in each leading system were also measured. This was determined after performing inverted T budding on the Rangpur lime tree rootstocks and verifying that the procedure was successful. The production of citrus plant budstocks is feasible in a hydroponic system.