Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
'Navelate' sweet orange is a late maturing navel orange originated in Spain. The
trees are vigorous and similar to 'Washington' navel, but branches are thorny and
are moderately productive. Fruit of medium size, with small and almost concealed
navel; rind is thin and of yellowish-orange colour; flesh is very tender and juicy,
and of extraordinary quality. Fruit can be left to hang on the tree up to mid-spring
without loss of quality.
Pigment (Blood) Oranges
Blood oranges are of some commercial importance in some Mediterranean coun-
tries, mainly in Italy. This group of varieties develops deep red flesh colour due to
the anthocyanin pigments, which can also develop in the rind. It is related with hot
days and, above all cold nights. Fruit of medium size, oval to oblong in shape, and
thin peel. Flesh is very juicy and of excellent quality. Trees are usually small, of
dense canopy and pale leaves.
The most important cultivars include early maturing (January-February; NH)
cultivars 'Tarocco' and 'Gallo', medium (February-March) 'Tarocco Ippolito' and
'Sciara', and late maturing (April-May) cultivars 'Sanguinello' and 'Moro', the lat-
ter being the most important variety for juice processing.
Satsuma Mandarin
Satsuma mandarin probably originated in China and exported to Japan (sixteenth
century
ad
). The Satsuma mandarin market is growing in Japan and Spain and to a
lesser extent to Korea, Turkey, Georgia, California (USA), Argentina, Uruguay and
South Africa. In Japan and Spain, production has been declining in the last decades.
This species is well adapted to cool sub-tropical regions and has low heat unit
requirements for fruit maturation, however rainfall and relative humidity changes
colour and makes the fruit prone to
puffing
.
Satsuma mandarins are mainly grown for fresh consumption, but are suited to
processing for juice and for canning segments in syrup or juice.
The Satsuma tree is vigorous and very productive, and exhibits a spreading habit
with long dropping branches. Leaf is large, slightly leathery, dark dull green, and has
a prominent midvein. Fruit is moderate large compared to other mandarins, slightly
flattened in shape, smooth peel, yellowish, of acceptable flavour, and seedless. Size,
shape, colour and flavour mainly depends on the growing area, fruit produced under
cooler conditions being usually small, flattened and of deep orange peel colour.
Satsuma cultivars are commonly divided into two groups on the basis of their
maturation date. The early to mid-season cultivars mature from October to Decem-
ber in the NH, and the earlier maturing ones are marketable from September on-
wards. The early to mid-season cultivars include 'Owari' (Fig.
6.1d
), widely grown
in Japan and Spain, and 'Wenzhou', in China. The earlier maturing varieties in-
clude 'Miyagawa' wase (
wase
means early maturing in Japanese), which is the most
