Salinity and water deficit

Abstract

Introduction: Citrus is a subtropical crop and, therefore, is poorly tolerant to water deficit and salt stress conditions. Its cultivation has been extended to different climatic regions between 40° north-south latitudes, where citrus production is particularly high in arid and semiarid regions. In major citrus-producing regions such as the Mediterranean Basin, Southern California (USA), South Africa, and Australia, where summer weather is usually dry and hot, and available water is of low quality due to excessive concentrations of soluble salts, water deficit and salinity become limiting to citrus productivity (revised in Maas, 1993; Storey and Walker, 1999; Gómez-Cadenas et al., 2003). Furthermore, climate change in citrus-producing regions is expected to amplify the effects of drought and salinity stress (see Chapter 13).....