Rangpur lime (limão cravo)

Scientific name: Citrus limonia Osbeck

International name: Rangpur lime

Other names: limão Rosa, limão Cavalo, limão Francês, limão vinagre

Origen: China

Last update: August 2008

          Rangpur lime is the most common rootstock in Sao Paulo's citrus industry with more than 80% participation. The major reason for the preference is its early and high productivity. Citrus trees budded on Rangpur lime start bearing good crops after only 3 years. This may be due to its excellent drought resistance since more than 80% of our orchards depend on rain for water and 60 to120 days without rain during the blooming period are common.

Rangpur lime is resistant to Tristeza but susceptible to other diseases: Exocortis, Xiloporosis, Foot rot, Nematodes, Blight, and Sudden Death. The effects of these diseases, however, can be minimized with special care during the production of the nursery plants. In areas with high incidence of Blight and Sudden Death, Rangpur lime has been abandoned as a rootsock, or used in conjunction with resistant rootstocks like Swingle, Cleopatra or Sunki, in two-rootstock plants.

Trees on Rangpur lime are highly vigorous, resistant to drought, and adapt well to most soil types, even the more sandy and poor, where they can have excellent performance with nutritional complementation. Fruit of trees on Rangpur lime have good sizes but only average quality when sugar concentrations and sugar to acid ratios (flavor) are considered. Sugar production per plant or unit area, however, are excellent. Rangpur lime induces early maturity on scion fruit and help growers to obtain better prices at the beginning of the season.

          Growers usually look for a substitution for Rangpur lime under the following conditions: (the change generally requires the adoption of irrigation practices in the orchards)

1. High incidence and severity of citrus blight.

2. Soils with high humidity as near low areas, springs, and rivers.

3. Necessity for hgh quality fruit, as for export.

4. Necessity for late maturing fruit for the fresh fruit market.

5. High incidence of foot rot, root rot or nematodes.

6. Replanting areas with high incidence of soil diseases or citrus blight.

7. Necessity to control tree vigor for better quality or lower cost cultural practices.

8. Incidence of Citrus Sudden Death in the area.

         Trees of the Rangpur lime rootstock are very vigorous and bear heavy crops of seedy fruit. Rangpur seeds are not highly polyembryonic and the occurrence of atypical plants (hybrids or zygotics) in the seedbeds is high. Most of the times only 50% or less of the seedlings are utilized in citrus nurseries.

           Rangpur lime adapted extremelly well to Brazilian conditions and can be found growing spontaneously in most of the country on river banks, pastures and mountains. There are several clones of Rangpur with distinct plant characteristics but with not so well known behavior as rootstocks. In addition to the common Rangpur, collected from wild plants, the most utilized clones are Limeira and Taquaritinga, from Sao Paulo, and Santa Barbara, from California, US. Recently, Citrolima developed 4 new clones of Rangpur which induce smaller trees of good productivity and better disease resistance.

          Rangpur lime seedlings in the nurseries are very vigorous. They are very susceptible to scab. They can be budded year around under the conditions of the citrus belt in Sao Paulo and induce vigorous vegetation of the scion buds.