Understanding the Wood Pocket Physiopathy in Persian Lime Through Its Physiological Characterization

Persian lime is one of the most important citrus fruits in Mexico. This species suffers from a physiopathy called Wood Pocket (WP), which is characterized by chlorosis in leaves and fruits, necrosis in the trunk, and the eventual death of the tree. The actual scientific knowledge about WP is very little; however, the producers, researchers, and technicians associate it with abiotic stress. In the present study, we observed that Persian limes exposed to temperatures over 45 °C for five months developed WP symptoms, while those kept at 25 °C during the same time did not. Both groups were then physiologically characterized. Our results show that WP strongly affects most fluorescence and gas exchange parameters. Specially, we observe that stomatal fluxes were negative in WP leaves. Our results suggest that WP in Persian lime plants might be a physiological affectation caused by the prolonged exposure to high temperatures. It might be possible that the physiological affectation (gas exchange and water use efficiency) could be associated with a high-temperature-induced abscisic acid accumulation, which, in turn, might have caused stomatal closure in WP-affected plants. However, this hypothesis must be corroborated experimentally.