Rootstock Breeding for Abiotic Stress Tolerance in Citrus

Abstract

Citrus species are the most widely produced fruit crops in the world. Citrus fruits are mainly produced in coastal areas in several countries as well as Mediterranean region, and production in these regions is affected by both biotic and abiotic stresses, including drought, extreme temperature, salinity, citrus canker, citrus tristeza virus, citrus green‐ ing, and others. The use of rootstocks in fruit production includes not only stronger re‐ sistance against pathogens but also a higher tolerance to abiotic stress conditions such as salinity, heavy metals, nutrient stress, water stress, and alkalinity. There is extensive ge‐ netic diversity in citrus which provides several materials to be used as rootstocks against abiotic stress. In this work, we tried to provide an overview of the abiotic stresses in cit‐ rus by combining literature with our studies, role of citrus rootstocks against abiotic stresses and rootstock breeding in citrus.