Comparison and Evaluation of Physico-Chemical Properties of Five Orange Varieties under Agro-Climatic Conditions of Sargodha, Pakistan

Abstract

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