Chapter – 11
1
Introduction
The Mandarins (Citrus reticulataBlanco. ) belonging to the household Rutaceae represents the largest and most diverse group among the genusCitrus. The tree may be little to medium in size making upto 25 pess depending on the assortment and turn in broad assortment of environments from tropic to sub-tropics and some are found suited turning even in temperate parts. Mandarin fruits scope in coloring material, size and sugariness, and can hold many or no seeds. Mandarins are known for their bright coloured Peel and mush, first-class spirit, typical loose tegument and interior sections doing them easy to skin. They are best eaten natural and fresh after reaping.
The loose-skinned Citrus reticulata orange is one of the most economically of import and popular fruits in the universe ( Chakrabortyet Al. , 2011 ) . There is strong demand both at national and international degree owing to its world-wide credence and nutritionary importance. It is normally consumed in natural signifier or in fruit salads every bit good as juice. They are besides canned in sirup with sections and are used in fruit salads and other sweets or as fillings or ornament in bars. Mandarin Peel oil has an of import place in nutrient industry as a flavorer agent. It is used in Sweets, gelatins, ice-cream, masticating gum, pastry and confectioneries. It is besides used in soft drinks, sociables, kernels and flavorers every bit good as in Citrus reticulata spirits and other intoxicant merchandises.
Mandarins are rich in ascorbic acid ( 13 – 54 milligrams per 100 g of comestible part ) and Calcium ( 25 – 46 milligrams per 100 g of comestible part ) . They are a great beginning of Vitamin C. One orange really has all the Vitamin C that one needs for the twenty-four hours. The H2O content in the fruit is about 80 to 90 per centum of comestible part. Mandarins are rich in vitamin A, B, C, P and citric acid.
The Citrus reticulata orange is considered as native of south-eastern Asia and the Philippines ( Morton, 1987 ) . The fruit is copiously grown in Japan, southern China, India and Australia. Mandarins were grown in China and Japan on a big graduated table since the sixteenth century. Commercial production of Citrus reticulatas started in the early 1900 ‘s. The fresh citrous fruit market worldwide has dramatically changed in the past 20 old ages and the production has doubled from 13.7 million metric tons in 1991 to 26 million metric tons in 2011. Consumers now prefer easy-peeling, seedless, tasty Citrus reticulatas with attractive rind colour. As a consequence, Citrus reticulatas are now the fastest turning sector of the fresh citrous fruit industry in California and worldwide. Mandarin, its loanblends and relativestogether form the largest group in the genus Citrus. The figure of commercially grown Citrus reticulata assortments in the universe is more than 300 ( Citruspages, 2015 ) .
The top five Citrus reticulata manufacturers in the universe today are China, Spain, Turkey, Brazil, and Japan and the biggest Citrus reticulata exporters are Spain, China, Morocco, Turkey and South Africa. The universe entire production of Citrus reticulatas is about 28.67 million metric tons covering an country of 2.89 million hactares country during 2013. China with 15.2 million metric tons of fruits in 2012-13 leads in production followed by Spain with 2.2 million metric tons and Turkey with 0.94 million metric tons severally ( FAOSTAT, 2015 ) .
India ranks 4th ( 0.86 million metric tons ) in the universe in overall citrous fruit production. Citrus occupies 3rd topographic point among fruits in India, after Mangifera indica and banana in footings of production. The production of Citrus reticulata has increased from 1,660.1 thousand metric metric tons in 2001-02 to 3431.4 in 2013-14 thousand metric metric tons and thereby registering a compound growing rate of 5.74 per cent which was found to be important at 5 % chance degree ( Table 3 ) . Similarly the productiveness of Citrus reticulata was besides found to increase from 8.3 t/ha in 2001-02 to 10.4 t/ha in 2013-14 with compound growing rate of 1.75 per which was found to be non important at 5 % chance degree ( NHB, 2015 ) .
The of import Citrus reticulata cultivars in India are Nagpur Citrus reticulata, Kinnow Citrus reticulata, Coorg Mandarin, Darjeeling Mandarin and Khasi Mandarin. Among the provinces Punjab has the highest production with 1017.7 thousand metric tons followed by Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Rajasthan with 894.4, 742.5 and 229.9 metric metric tons severally ( Table 4 ) . Area-wise Maharashtra with 135 1000 hectares has the highest country under cultivation followed by Madhya Pradesh and Punjab with 52.5 and 47.1 thousand hectares severally. Karnataka has the highest productiveness with 22.3 metric tons per hectare which is followed by Punjab with 21.6 metric tons per hectare and Rajasthan with 20.5 metric tons per hectare severally ( NHB, 2015 ) .
The north-eastern provinces of India, viz. Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland and Tripura is considered to be the natural place of many citrous fruit species ( Ghosh, 1977 ; Gupta and Yadav, 1999 ) and it is considered as a reservoir of assorted citrous fruit species including mandarin orange ( Tanaka, 1958 ; Bhattacharya and Dutta, 1956 ) . Assorted signifiers have been found turning wild in Garo Hills of Meghalaya and Siang territories of Arunachal Pradesh ( Borthakur, 1993 ) . Among the north eastern provinces of India, Assam recorded highest production and productiveness of Citrus reticulata orange ( i.e. 188.08 thousand metric tons and 12.05 t/ha severally ) from an country of 15.67 thousand hour angle ( NHB, 2015 ) .
In Meghalaya, the production was 40.43 1000 metric tons from an country of 8.60 1000s hectare and the productiveness was merely 4.75 t/ha ( NHB, 2015 ) . In the Garo Hills of Meghalaya, volt-ampere. Khasi Mandarin ( Citrus reticulata Blanco. ) , a extremely polyembryonic species is the most of import and widely cultivated commercial assortment of mandarin orange. Fruits are depressed, globose to oblate, medium size, free skinned, bright orange yellow in coloring material, smooth surface, calendered, rind midst to medium, rind and section easy dissociable, sections moderate in Numberss, juice abundant, orange coloring material with sour-sweet blend and has good maintaining quality ( Ngachan et al. , 2010 ) . The fruits weigh 10.31 to 109.90 g, 7-14 °Brix of Total Soluble Solids ( TSS ) , 0.67-1.31 per cent sourness, 1.83 to 3.95 pH, and entire sugar 2.07 to 4.65 per cent and are grown on all the hilly tracks upto 1000 m above MSL. It is propagated chiefly through seeds. Farmers normally sow seedlings right after reaping on a prepared sand bed which is transplanted after 2-3 old ages during the rainy season. Some husbandmans besides procured seedling from the Departments of Horticulture and the Department of Soil and Water Conservation, Government of Meghalaya. Some of the really old groves are believed to be propagated by imported seeds from Burma by Britishers during the latter portion of the nineteenth century. Other groves are considered to be propagated by seeds from Assam and Kolkata during the in-between portion of the twentieth century. Extensive geographic expedition in the Citrus reticulata turning countries of Garo Hills reveals that most of the Citrus reticulata groves of Garo Hills are neither planted nor managed scientifically. The seedlings are planted largely in the old abandoned lands which were under switching cultivation every bit good as homestead gardens. Proper orchard planning or layout was non carried out by the Citrus reticulata agriculturists. They were left to turn without following any scientific intercultural operations like irrigation, works protection steps, application of fertilisers etc.
Manual weeding was carried out twice a twelvemonth to maintain the orchard free of weeds. Pesticides, antifungals and weedkillers are non used in the groves and therefore the fruits are free from harmful chemical residue. This opens up huge range for change overing these mandarin groves under certified organic harvest with planned scientific intercessions. This may heighten the export potency of the harvest. In some Citrus reticulata groves, inter-cropping with arecanut, tea, java and banana is being practiced in the Garo Hills.
Mandarin is a extremely compensable and profitable fruit harvest of the Garo Hills. Successful and profitable cultivation needs scientific direction of the grove every bit good as proper post-harvest direction. To bring forth high quality fruits of export value, the physical and chemical parametric quantities of the fruits should run into the international criterions. The physico-chemical belongingss of a fruit determine the quality, alimentary value, suitableness for treating industry ; consumer acceptableness etc. Physico-chemical belongingss of fruit viz. size, weight, TSS, juice content, entire sugar, citric acid, vitamin C etc. are frequently influenced by assorted factors such as cultural patterns followed ; age of the trees ; dirt and works food position etc. So, it is inevitable that to bring forth high quality fruits cultural factors have to be managed scientifically.
Although agro-climatic conditions predominating in Garo Hills is extremely contributing for cultivation of Citrus reticulata oranges, nevertheless, the entire production and productiveness is comparatively really low as compared to the national norm. The husbandmans of Garo Hills cultivate Citrus reticulatas extensively and bring forth 5,390 metric tons from an country of 2,064hectares. The mean productiveness of Citrus reticulata orange in the Garo Hills is 2.8 t/ha which is comparatively excessively low as compared to the national norm of 10.4 t/ha. In malice of favourable agro-climatic conditions the productiveness of East Garo Hills ( 4.2 t/ha ) , West Garo Hills ( 2.2 t/ha ) and South Garo Hills ( 2.1 t/ha ) in 2011-12 ( Govt. of Meghalaya, 2015 ) was really low and exhibit high grade of fluctuations. The fluctuation within the same part has drawn involvement in the head of the research worker to place the cause of this fluctuation. Surveies made in different parts of the state reveal that productiveness and quality of Citrus reticulata orange is influenced by several factors such as orchard direction patterns, age of the trees, dirt and works food position, predominating agro-climatic status etc. Therefore it was felt that an thorough survey on the factors impacting productiveness may supply ample range of betterment in the productiveness of Citrus reticulata orange in Garo Hills. Keeping in position the above facts, the present survey entitled ‘factors impacting physico-chemical belongingss and productiveness of Citrus reticulata orange in Garo Hills, Meghalaya’ was taken up in the former three territories of Garo Hills viz. West Garo Hills, East Garo Hills and South Garo Hills during the twelvemonth 2012-13 to 2013-14. However, during the twelvemonth 2013 two more territories have been curved out from the former three territories viz. North Garo Hills and South West Garo Hills.
The present survey was carried out with the following aims –
- To analyze the influence of grove direction patterns on productiveness of Citrus reticulata orange with regard to age of the tree.
- To analyze the consequence of dirt and works food position on physico-chemical belongingss and productiveness of Citrus reticulata orange in relation of age of the tree ;
- To analyze the economic feasibleness of mandarin orange production in the Garo Hills ;
Introduction
