Effect of different rootstocks on the leaf metabolite profile of ‘Sugar Belle’ mandarin hybrid

Abstract

Currently, citrus greening is threatening the citrus industry worldwide. So far, there is no effective cure for this destructive disease and management mainly depends on the control of Diaphorina citri vector using insecticides. Although the use of different rootstocks could increase citrus scions' tolerance to biotic and abiotic stresses, little work has been conducted to investigate the effect of rootstocks on citrus tolerance to citrus greening pathogen. In this study, we investigated the effect of rootstock on the metabolite profile of ‘Sugar Belle’ mandarin hybrid using gas-chromatography mass spectrometry (GC-MS). The principle component analysis showed that the metabolite profiles of the ‘Sugar Belle’ mandarin hybrid on the three selected rootstocks were different from each other. These results indicated that rootstocks could affect the primary and secondary metabolites of citrus scions, and consequently could affect scion tolerance to pathogens.