https://doi.org/10.37229/fsa.fjh.2026.06.17

Limes are considered an important citrus fruit, and their importance increases due to their medicinal properties, which have been passed down through different civilizations and cultures. Lime farms in Egypt are currently suffering from a serious problem that has led to the removal of many trees and orchards, especially in the Beheira region. It has been observed that with this problem, the trees that undergo stimulating drought withholding water for a period of time to produce an off-season crop, which is the basis for most lime farmers to obtain economic returns, collapse completely and die within a period of 3-6 months. Therefore, the aim of this research, during the two successive seasons 2021 and 2022, was to induce lime orchards to flower out- of-season without holding irrigation water. Five different treatments were used without holding water as follow: T1: Control, T2: Red light (light intensity 20µm/ m²/ second for 4 continuous hours), T3: Paclobutrazol 3.5 g/ tree as soil addition + (potassium nitrate 0.2%+ Zn 0.3 %+ B 0.1%), T4: Cycocel 1000ppm+ salicylic acid 200 ppm and T5: Flowering agent (50mg / 100 liter+ (potassium nitrate 0.2%+ Zn 0.3 %+ B 0.1%)). The results showed that red light treatment was superior in terms of early flowering, as flowering began one week after treatment, and the yield values were 19.33, 20.58 kg/tree in the first and second seasons, respectively. Moreover, the highest fruit weight and fruit juice percent were recorded with the red light treatment when compared with control or other treatments. This method was more distinctive in terms of sustainability, environmental aspects, and long-term economic benefits. On the other hand, total carbohydrates, N and C concentrations and then C/ N ratio were determined and reflected varied response with varied treatments.