Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
22
Tangerine, Mandarin and Clementine
Masood Sadiq Butt, Muhammad Siddiq and Waqas Ahmed
INTRODUCTION
Citrus genus belongs to the family Rutaceae, which is
further divided into two sub-genera, that is, Papeda and
Eucitrus. The Eucitrus genus includes the sweet oranges
(
Citrus sinensis
), sour oranges (
C. aurantium
), pumme-
los (
C. grandis
), citrons (
C. medica
), lemon (
C. limon
),
grapefruit (
C. paradisi
), limes (
C. aurantifolia
), tanger-
ines (
C. tangerina
), and clementine (
C. clemenina
) (Saunt,
1990). The citrus genus consists of many species with dis-
tinct historical background. However, the first cultivation
of citrus has been reported as occurring around 4,000 years
ago in Southeast Asia. During the 19th and 20th centuries,
the cultivation of citrus fruit started worldwide, and now
around 100 countries produce different varieties of citrus
fruit (Reeve and Arthur, 2004).
The name “tangerine” has often been used synonymously
with “mandarin,” especially in the United States (Burns,
2004). According to Swingle classification system, man-
darin and allied loose peelers are merged into one species.
In contrast, Hodgson classified mandarin into diversified
species. According to new botanical classification sys-
tem, tangerine and mandarin are classified as two differ-
ent species. However, some other groups resembling man-
darins and tangerines are clementine, satsuma, and so on.
Although all these fall into the category of loose-skin cit-
rus, the following subclassification can be used as a guide to
differentiate among them (Saunt, 1990; Reeve and Arthur,
2004): (1) common mandarin (
C. reticulata
); (2) satsuma
(unshu mikan), also classified as
C. unshiu;
(3) Mediter-
ranean mandarin, also classified as
C. deliciosa;
(4) king
mandarin (
C. nobilis Loureiro
); (5) tangerine (
C. tange-
rina
); and (6) clementine (
C. clementina
). Some hybrids
are also important that resemble mandarin in terms of their
thin peel. They include kinnow (south Asia) and honey
tangerine (China, Europe, and the United States).
WORLD PRODUCTION
Globally, citrus ranks at the top in production and its indus-
trial processing contributes around US$ 10 billion (FAO,
2011). More than 50% of citrus is consumed fresh, while
the rest is processed into variety of products ranging from
juices, jams, and squashes to canned commodities. Among
different species of citrus, sweet orange contributes about
50-60%, while easy peelers compose around 20% of to-
tal production. Besides these, lemons, lime, grapefruit,
pummelos, and tangelos are also some minor contributors
(Peris-Moll and Julia-Igual, 2006).
The area under tangerine, mandarin, and clementine cul-
tivation has increased from 1.31 million hectares in 1990 to
2.23 million hectares in 2008—an increase of 70%; how-
ever, there was some decrease in 2009 and 2010 (Fig. 22.1).
Similarly, the world production of these fruits has seen over
70% increase since 1990, from 12.54 to 21.32 million met-
ric tons in 2010. The world production after peaking at
26.05 million metric tons in 2006 has seen an 18% drop
leading up to 2010.
China was the leading producer of tangerine, mandarin,
and clementine with 10,121,000 metric tons in 2010, fol-
lowed by Spain, Brazil, Turkey, and Egypt (Table 22.1).
China alone accounted for 523.5% of the total world pro-
duction. The top five exporters of tangerine, mandarin, and
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