Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
Acta Horticulturae, sa.1399, ss.461-472, 2024 (Scopus)
The citrus fruit only develops well in sub-tropical climate conditions. The Çukurova Region (East Mediterranean coast of Turkey) has a high potential for the production of citrus. Most of the citrus orchards exist in this region. Citrus species are small to medium shrubs/trees that are cultivated throughout the tropics and subtopic. The farmers’ community showed great interest for the cultivation of orange, mandarin, lemon, and grapefruit in this region. Early harvesting of the citrus orchards generates more income for Turkish farmers as compared to other European countries. This high cost benefit ratio also attracts the southern part of the Turkey toward citrus cultivation. Since 1995, the rhizosphere and soil quality research groups have conducted various research experiments to evaluate the significance of mycorrhiza at Çukurova University, Turkey. The Çukurova region produces almost 72% of the Turkish citrus production. Climate and soil both are suitable for citrus production, therefore, one million viruses’ free seedlings are produced. Due to the effectiveness of mycorrhiza in citrus orchards, focus was shifted to raise inoculated seedlings and eventually the nutrient uptake. High pH of the Mediterranean region soil exacerbates the availability of nutrients especially P, Zn and Fe. Currently water scarcity also affects nutrient uptake. This study aims to critically analyze the previous work that has been done by researchers in the southern Mediterranean part of Turkey to come up with appropriate mycorrhiza species and spore application ratio. Significant effort has been so far made including projects funded by TÜBİTAK and European Union research articles published in well reported journal and experiments carried out by postgraduate students. Mycorrhiza inoculated plants have significantly attained high shoot dry weight, root dry weight, phosphorus (P) and zinc (Zn) uptake compared to non-mycorrhizal plants. Root infection rate, root length and stem diameter were also higher in inoculated plants as compared to non-inoculated plants. Based on the results it is concluded that application/inoculation of mycorrhizal fungi considerably improved citrus production in this region.