The deepening of citrus root system is important to increase crop productivity and longevity, especially in soils with subsurface cohesive horizons. The objective of this study was to evaluate the root distribution of 'Hamlim' sweet orange grafted onto Rangpur lime. The 15 year-old plants were located in a coastal plain soil toposequence in Sapeaçu county, Bahia, Brazil. The soils were an argisolic Yellow Latosol (LAx; Oxisol) and a Yellow Argisol (PAx; Ultisol), both cohesive, and a non-cohesive Gray Argisol (PAC; Ultisol). In 2001, root samples were collected from one plant in the LAx and from one plant in the PAx, and from two plants in the PAC. Samples were collected in four horizons, four points in the row and five points in the inter-rows, spaced at 0.50 m, using a steel cylinder with a length of 1.20 m and diameter of 0.085 m. The collected roots were scanned and processed using the GSRoot software. 'Hamlim' sweet orange roots grafted onto Rangpur lime were highly sensitive to soil cohesion. The root density in the PAC was 3.4 to 4.1 times higher than in the LAx and PAx, respectively. Root density in the LAx and PAx surface horizons was close to that in the deepest horizon of the PAC. The effective depth root system, where 80 % of the roots can be found, was higher in the PAC, non-cohesive soil, while the effective distance, where 80 % of the roots measured from the tree trunk can be found, was higher in the PAx, cohesive soil. In the PAx the effective depth of the root system was the smallest. In the three soils the roots with diameter < 1 mm were predominant, followed by those with diameter between 1 and 2 and > 2 mm.
soil cohesion; argisolic Yellow Latosol; Yellow Argisol; Gray Argisol
