Investigation of urea foliar application and iron sulfate on the yield and fruit quality ‎of sweet lime (Citrus limettioides Tan.) in calcareous soil conditions

This study was conducted to investigate the effect of nitrogen and iron elements on increasing the quantity and quality of the 6-old-years sweet lime trees budded on Mexican lime rootstock in Jahrom. The experiment was performed as factorial arrangement in the randomized complete blocks design with 9 treatments and three replications and each replicate having one sweet lime tree. The foliar application of urea and iron sulfate was done at concentrations of 0, 3 and 5 g/l, alone and their combined treatments, before flower induction of the trees, in October. Based on the results, different amounts of urea and its interaction with iron sulfate, had significant effect on all quantitative and qualitative traits of sweet lime fruit at p<0.05. Iron sulfate had significant effect (p<0.05) on pH, total acid, vitamin C, fruit weight, yield. The highest yield of single tree (203 kg), juice percentage (45.4) and vitamin C (44.26 mg/100 ml fruit juice) were obtained from the combined treatment of nitrogen 5 g/l and iron 3 g/l concentration.