Mitigation of heat stress effects using agricultural treatments on growth, yield and fruit quality of washington navel orange trees grown in egypt

High temperature stress can be detrimental to citrus trees, resulting in a lack of fruit yield and an increase of fruit disorders. One strategy that farmers can use to maintain or increase their yields to face the climate change, is to adjust the farm climate by growing an Intercrop Moringa oleifera seedling on the inter-row space of Washington navel orange trees which protects the citrus trees from direct sun and may mitigates the additional heat reflected from the soil, also, provides an additional benefit in the form of crop diversification, which may contribute to economic resilience for growers. Such, we used a one-year old moringa seedlings transplanted as a shade cover and a shade trellis structure for Washington navel orange (Citrus sinensis L. Osbeck) trees planted in Al Nubaria region, Egypt. Growth (number of shoots/one meter branch, number of leaves/shoot, shoot length, leaves chlorophyll content, leaf area and tree canopy), and leaves macronutrients (N, P, K, Ca, Mg) and micronutrients (Fe, Zn, Mn, Cu, Na) content, and fruit characteristics (number, weight, diameter, peel thickness, total soluble solids, total acidity and ascorbic acid), and yield and crop efficiency of orange trees were determined. It can be recommended that using the trellis for shading to reduce the effect of heat stress on Washington navel orange trees gave the largest number of fruits, which led to more efficient distributed yield on the trees, followed in ascending order by Moringa seedlings cultivation among the rows of Washington navel orange trees comparing to uncovered orange trees in the field.