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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Plant Sci.
Sec. Plant Abiotic Stress
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpls.2025.1498798
Effects of water deficit on fruit quality and water productivity of citrus under plastic film mulching in Western Hubei, China
Provisionally accepted- 1 China Three Gorges University, Yichang, China
- 2 Xi'an University of Technology, Xi'an, Shaanxi, China
- 3 Henan University of Science and Technology, Luoyang, Henan Province, China
The cultivation of Citrus sinensis Osbeck, the fruit with the largest planting scale and yield in Western Hubei Province of China, currently faces significant challenges related to low fruit quality and water use efficiency (WUE). This study aims to enhance citrus quality, yield, and WUE in the region by investigating the effects of water deficit and film mulching on 10-year-old citrus trees. From 2019 to 2021, three levels of water deficit (Light: 80%-90%, Moderate:70%-80%, Severe: 60%-70% of field capacity) and four mulching treatments (A: Japanese film, B: Dupont film, C: Chinese film, and no mulching) were implemented at the young fruit stage. Full irrigation (90%-100% of field capacity) was used as the control. The light reflectance of films A, B, and C increased by 43.7%, 44.6%, and 6.3% respectively on sunny days compared to no mulching. Films A and B exhibited 2.2 times higher reflectivity than film C. Moderate water deficit -Japanese film (M-A) and moderate water deficit -Dupont film(M-B) treatments demonstrated the greatest improvement in citrus quality. Water deficit combined with film mulching resulted in an average increase in WUE of 10.90%-20.35% compared to full irrigation, and 8.96%-16.52% compared to no mulching. Mulching led to an average increase in citrus yield of 3.09%-16.48% compared to no mulching. The interaction between water deficit and film mulching significantly influenced both yield and WUE. From 2019-2021, M-A and M-B treatments yielded the highest citrus production, consistently demonstrating superior performance. Therefore, the better treatments would be a combination of M-A and M-B treatments, which correspond to soil moisture levels of 70% θf-80% θf during the young fruit period of citrus under mulching with films A and B. This combination was expected to enhance citrus quality, yield, and WUE. The outcome of this study may offer scientific basis and technical support for citrus irrigation management in Western Hubei, China.
Keywords: water deficit, Film mulching, Citrus yield, fruit quality, water use efficiency *CORRESPONDENCE
Received: 19 Sep 2024; Accepted: 10 Mar 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Zhong, Huang, Hao, Zhu, Fei, Dai and Wang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Yun Zhong, China Three Gorges University, Yichang, China
Kun Hao, China Three Gorges University, Yichang, China
Shijiang Zhu, China Three Gorges University, Yichang, China
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