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Rough lemon (Jamberi) rootstock for citrus Photo: Mahantraa Photography · Pexels License · source ↗

Rough lemon (Jamberi) rootstock for citrus

Rough lemon (Citrus jambhiri Lush.), known across north and central India as Jamberi, Jamberi-nimbu or Jatti khatti, is one of the most widely used budding rootstocks for sweet orange and acid lime in India. It is the alternative most often used in YSR Kadapa, Anantapur and parts of Chittoor where light, sandy-loam soils and erratic rainfall make the more drought-sensitive Rangpur lime less reliable, and where Phytophthora pressure is moderate.

Key features

  • Botanical: Citrus jambhiri Lush., a vigorous, drought-hardy seedling rootstock that produces uniform nucellar seed
  • Vigour: imparts vigorous canopy growth and good early bearing
  • Soil suitability: light to medium loams, sandy-loams, calcareous soils with pH up to 8.0
  • Tolerances: drought, salinity (moderate), iron and zinc deficiency on calcareous soils
  • Susceptibility: Phytophthora foot rot (Phytophthora Foot Rot Citrus) and Tylenchulus semipenetrans (citrus nematode) in heavy waterlogged soils

When to use it

ICAR-CCRI Nagpur recommends rough lemon for sweet-orange belts on light soils with low water tables and limited irrigation, where its deep tap-root and drought resistance outperform Rangpur lime. In the Rayalaseema citrus belt (YSR Kadapa Citrus Belt), Jamberi-budded Mosambi (Citrus Mosambi Sweet Lime) is preferred on red gravelly soils of Pulivendula and Rayachoti where Rangpur lime trees show early decline. In low-lying or waterlogged plots, sour orange and Troyer/Carrizo citrange are preferred instead because rough lemon is highly susceptible to Phytophthora under those conditions.

Procedure

Stones are extracted from fully ripe Jamberi fruit, washed, dried in the shade and sown immediately or within a month in raised nursery beds at about 20 x 5 cm spacing. Seedlings reach buddable size (8-10 mm at 25-30 cm height) in 8-12 months. T-budding or chip-budding with Mosambi or Nagpur mandarin scions is done from August to October. Budded plants are kept in polybags or pots for a further 4-6 months before field planting. The bud union must be kept 15-20 cm above the soil surface in the final pit to prevent scion rooting and foot-rot infection (Citrus Gummosis).

Limitations

Rough lemon transmits no resistance to citrus tristeza virus, exocortis or xyloporosis; budwood for the scion variety must therefore be drawn from indexed, virus-free mother blocks. In heavy black soils and irrigated commands, rough-lemon-budded trees decline early from gummosis; growers there should switch to sour orange or Rangpur lime. Fruit size and TSS on rough lemon are sometimes marginally lower than on Rangpur lime under good management.

See also: Citrus Mosambi Sweet Lime, Citrus Gummosis, YSR Kadapa Citrus Belt, Citrus Spacing Canopy Collapse.

Sources

  1. Rootstocks for Citrus. ICAR-CCRI Nagpur.
  2. Evaluation of rootstocks for sweet orange in vertisols. ICAR-CCRI Nagpur.