C itrus fruits are produced in many tropical and subtropical countries of the world. Pakistan is also one of the largest producers of Citrus (Kinnow) fruit along with leading countries like Brazil, USA, China, Japan and Maxico etc. (Amador, 2008). Moreover, citrus, in the entire scenario of Pakistan fruit culture constitutes to be the major fruit crop of the country both in area and production. These fruits Abstract | An elaborated study on evaluating quality characteristics of exotic fruits belonging to orange group of citrus was carried out at Citrus Research Institute Sargodha. The candidate varieties/cultivars were Rhode Red Valencia, Cara Cara, Amber Sweet, Sun Star and Salustiana. All of these different five citrus varieties evaluated objectively assessing their suitability both for direct consumption and value addition. The work spread over two years (2018and19) produced distinctive results for their commercial exploitation. The attributes in analytical work for fruit quality evaluation were fruit size, weight, peel thickness, peel percentage, juice percentage, rag percentage, total soluble solids (TSS), acidity, TSS/acid ratio, number of segments, and number of seeds, maturity period and degree of granularity. This was ever important study in Pakistan for evaluating the citrus exotic material of latest generation. This endeavour led to the sound recommendation of sweet oranges like Rhode Red Valencia and Sun Star in the two years of study. In case of taste imparting characteristics like TSS, acidity and their respective ratio in the

C itriculture has great importance in the agriculture industry worldwide, occupying 1 st position among the fruit crops in Pakistan (Shireen et al., 2018). Mandarin group is most widely cultivated and produced in Punjab, Pakistan, ultimately shares maximum foreign exchange (Khan et al., 2020a).Maximum citrus fruit (> 95%) is being produced by province of Punjab, and proportion of Kinnow (Citrus reticulata blanco) is more tha 70% of total production of citrus fruits (Niaz et al., 2004). Citrus fruits are much conspicuous and delicious with excellent nutritional value and organoleptic properties. The growth and quality characteristics of citrusAbstract | Citrus fruit production is getting much popularity throughout world, due to its high minerals and vitamin contents. The nutritional quality of citrus fruits primarily depends upon the selection of rootstock. Kinnow 'Mandarin' is a major citrus cultivar being cultivated in Pakistan. The current study aimed to investigate the nutritional status and growth and yield of Kinnow mandarin grafted on four overseas and two indigenous rootstocks in Pakistan. Experiments were conducted at experimental station of Citrus Research Institute, Sargodha from 2016 to 2020. Results revealed over all good adaptability, while no significant difference in juice contents was observed among all the tested cultivars. Physical quality of fruit (weight, firmness, size etc.,), and TSS were significantly affected by varying rootstocks. Cox mandarin was found as best cultivar as imparting maximum weight (180.7 g), size (74.10 mm), TSS (12.0 ⁰B). Overall, cox mandarin budded with Kinnow performed well under local climatic conditions of Sargodha Pakistan.