🍋 Citrus

Mandarin, Kinnow, Sweet Orange, Sweet lemon, Grape Fruit, Lime, Important points, varities, pests

  • Classification of citrus was given by Tanka & Swingle (1945).
  • Spain is largest exporter of citrus.
  • Ultra dwarf rootstock of citrus: Flying dragon.
  • Fruit ripening: 9 month after planting.

Mandarin

  • Botanical Name: Citrus reticulata
  • Family: Rutaceae
  • Origin: China
  • Most common among citrus fruits grown in India.
  • Mandarin occupies 50 % area under citrus spp.
  • Seeds of citrus don’t have dormancy so they should be sown immediately after extraction.
  • Blooming-three time in a year.
  • Mandarins are highly susceptible to water logging.
  • Rootstock for HDP: Troyer citrange (1.8 x 1.8 m2).
  • Rangpur lime — most promising rootstock for mandarin and sweet orange.
  • Rootstock — Adajamir [C. assamensis] are resistant to Greening.
  • Spacing of lime, lemon and sweet orange is 6 m x 6 m
  • Best time for Pruning — Late winter or Early spring.
  • Mandarin, sweet orange, Acid lime, grape fruit: Highly polyembryonic.
  • Pummelo, Tahiti lime, Citron: Monoembryonic.
  • Citrus fruits have a special kind of fruit skin referred as ‘leathery rind’.
  • Citrus is micro-nutrient loving plant.
  • Trifoliate orange-resistant to phytopthora and nematodes.
  • Limolin-glycoside is responsible for bitter taste of citrus fruit juice.
  • Nagpur mandarin was introduced in India in 1894 by Shuji Raja Bhosle.
  • Irrigation requirement of mandarin is higher than other citrus species.
  • Weeds are serious problem in nursery. So, bromocial is most effective weedicide in controlling monocot and dicot weed.
  • State with highest production of citrus in India is Andhra Pradesh followed by Maharastra.
  • Sikkim is the only place where mandarin are packed in wooden boxes.

Varieties

  • Coorg: Most important commercial variety in South India (Karnataka).
  • Kodai orange: Tamil Nadu
  • Khasi: Locally known as Sikkim or Kamla mandarin. (North-East India)
  • Nagpur Santra (Ponkan): Finest mandarin in the world. Grown in Satpuda hills in Maharashtra.
  • Laddu mandrain
  • Sutwal: Introduced from Nepal.
  • Satsuma (seedless): Commercial mandarin of Japan.
  • Emperor and Fuetrelles: Introduction from Australia.

Kinnow

  • It is high yield mandarin and cross between King Sweet x Willow Leaf mandarins
  • Developed by H.B. Frost, USA -1935.
  • Kinnow was introduced in India in 1959.
  • It was first introduced in Punjab.
  • It’s juicier than oranges and is majorly grown in Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Rajasthan and even Haryana.
  • Kinnow can be grown in high density planting by using ‘Troyer citrange’ as a rootstock by spacing the plants at 1.8 x 1.8 m2 (3000 plants/hac).
  • A kinnow is generally dark in colour while the colour of an orange varies from saffron to light orange colour.

Sweet Orange

  • Botanical Name: Citrus sinensis
  • Family: Rutaceae
  • Origin: China
  • Pre-harvest fruit drop is common in citrus. It is due to:
    • Physiological factors
    • Pathological factors
  • Control measure-spray of 2, 4-D (20 PPM). Most prone variety Mosambi & Blood Red.
  • Degreening of citrus fruits is done by CaC2 (Calcium Carbide).
  • Best time for pruning — late winter or early spring.
  • Sweet orange is susceptible to water logging and phytopthora rot, so water stagnation in orchard should be avoided.
  • Double ring method - best for irrigation.
  • Deficiency of zinc along with N, is major nutritional problem of sweet orange.
  • Rangpur lime is the best rootstock for mosambi.
  • ‘T’ budding or Patch budding are most common method for sweet orange propagation.
  • Pineapple and Valencia - indicator of greening.

Varieties

  • Hamlin: Early variety
  • Jaffa: Mid-season variety
  • Pineapple: Mid-season variety
  • Valencia: late season variety
  • Mosambi: Most popular in Maharashtra, Best rootstock— Rangpur lime
  • Satgudi: Most popular in Andhra Pradesh, Best rootstock— Rough lemon.
  • Blood red: Most popular in North India Best rootstock— Karnakhatta, Jatti khatha.
  • Shamouti: Seedless variety
  • Washinghton navel
  • Batavin
  • Mudkhed - Bud mutant of Nagpur mandarin.

Lime/ Kagzi Lime (Khata Nimbu or Chota nimbu)

  • India rank 5th among major lime and lemon producing country in the world.
  • Sweet lime: Citrus limetoides, Native-India, self-incompatible.
  • Tahiti lime: Citrus latifolia — seedless triploid.
  • Rangpur lime: Citrus limenica, native - India
  • Pummelo: Citrus grandis (largest fruit), self-incompatible.
  • Acid lime is only propagated by seeds.
  • Kagzi lime (C. aurantifolia) is the indicator plant for Tristeza (highly susceptible to this disease).
  • Citrus canker is most serious disease of acid lime.
  • Acid-lime is tropical plant.
  • Lemons are divided into 4 groups:
    • Eureka
    • Lisbon
    • Anamalous

Sweet lemon

  • Gajanimma (Citrus Pennivesiculata) is most promising rootstock followed by rough lemon for acid lime.
  • Sweet lime contain — nonacid juice.
  • Sweet lime is resistant to greening.

Acid lime/kagzi lime varieties

  • Pramalini: Canker tolerant
  • Vikram
  • Chakradhar: Seedless variety of Acid lime.
  • PKM-1
  • Sai sarbati: Tolerant to tristiza and canker.
  • Jai devi: Pleasant Aroma
  • Sweet lime Varieties
    • Mitha chikna
    • Mithotra
  • Lemon Varieties
    • Eureka
    • Lucknow seedless
    • Lisbon
    • Kagzikalan
    • Nepali oblong
    • Nepali round
    • Pant lemon-I-self-incompatible.
    • Villafrance - belong to Eureka group.

Grape Fruit

  • Botanical Name: Citrus paradisi
  • Family: Rutaceae
  • Grape fruit is also known as forbidden fruit/ breakfast fruit.
  • Citron — Persian apple.
  • Citron — glucoside present-Hespiridin.
  • Varieties
    • Star ruby: From Hudson grape fruit through mutation breeding.
    • Red Blush
    • Duncan
    • Marsh Seedless
    • Foster
    • Triumph
    • Sharanpur Special
    • Thompson

Flowering in Citrus

Diseases of Citrus

  • Gummosis: Phytophthora spp.
  • Bacterial canker: Xanthontonas compestris p.v. citri (transmitted by leaf minor)
  • Citrus greening:
    • Earlier Mycoplasma (now causal organism is Caliberobacter, a gram negative, walled, bacteria).
    • Transmitted by citrus psylla, Diaphorina citri
  • Tristeza: Virus (vector is aphids: Toxoptera sp.)
  • Exocortis: Viroids.

Physiological disorder

  • Granulation: Due to high temperature & R.H. during ripening. It is managed by spray lime & application of 2, 4-D (12 ppm). The juice vesicle become hard, enlarged and turn opaque grayish in colour.
  • Fruit Cracking
    • It is due to sudden changes in temperature and also due to moisture stress condition.
  • Yellow leaf of citrus: Mo deficiency.
  • Die back due to: Copper deficiency
  • Exanthema: Copper deficiency.
  • Little leaf: Copper deficiency
  • Mottle leaf: Zinc deficiency
  • Citrus Decline

Insect-pest

  • Psylla: Diaphorina ctri (vector of greening disease)
  • Leaf minor: Phyllocnistis curella (vector of citrus canker)
  • Aphids: Toxoptera auranti (vector of Tristeza disease).
  • Lemon butterfly: Pupil demoleus. (Controlled by bagging of fruits).
  • Fruit sucking moth: Othreis fullonica (only adult suck the juice from ripening fruits).

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