• Thematic area:
• Integrated management of the production system
• Productive system:
• Pajarito Lemon or Creole (criollo) lemon
• Geographic coverage:

• Caribbean region

Description

This is a recommendation on the soil fertilization plan that allows the nutritional requirements of the Pajarito lemon cultivation in the Colombian Caribbean region in the areas with the presence of the HLB disease to be supplied. The recommendation proposes optimal levels of nutrients in the soil, with which the plant can reach a yield between 90 and 95% of the relative yield.

In addition to guaranteeing the adequate nutrition of the plants, the implementation of this nutritional plan will allow the producer:

1. Maintain productivity >15 tons per hectare.
2. Reduce the severity (>10%) of the disease in plants with symptoms associated with HLB.
3. Allows optimizing the use of fertilizers and adequate management of water resources.

Recommendations are presented for soil fertilization in the first two (2) years and what should be followed from the third year onwards (Table 1). In addition to the proposed soil fertilization plan, it is recommended to apply foliar fertilization on a monthly basis interspersed with soil fertilization, that is, on day 1, soil fertilization is applied, 15 days later, foliar fertilization is performed; 15 days after, foliar fertilization is carried out; then, soil fertilization is performed again, and so on. The Pajarito lemon in the Colombian Caribbean region remains productive practically all year round on farms where producers have irrigation available, so the proposed nutrition plan is applied throughout the year, varying the doses in some months of the year depending on the greater nutritional demand at some phenological stages (entry into the main production of the year) and the age of the crop. On the other hand, adding organic mulch helps maintain soil moisture and ensures that the plant easily absorbs the applied nutrients.

Table 1. Soil nutrition plan for Pajarito lemon in the Caribbean region.

Additionally, it is essential to highlight that properly implementing irrigation influences the efficiency of these recommendations. Irrigation must be guaranteed with a minimum frequency every two days in a volume between 100 - 130 L/plant/every two (2) days.

The irrigation system can be drip, subfoliar micro-spraying, and/or foliar micro-spraying, which has been implemented, generating outstanding preliminary results in terms of uniformity of the soil moisture system, efficiency in the use of fertilizers, and indirectly functioning as a control of insect pests by knocking them down from the plants, specifically Diaphorina citri, the vector of HLB and mites. In addition, the technology can have positive effects in a preventive, corrective, or mitigating manner, depending on the state in which the crop is intervened on the effect of HLB.