Fruit quality characterization of seven clementine cultivars

Abstract: For a citrus grower to choose the right clementine cultivar for a given region or market, it is very important to know the characteristics of that cultivar particularly in terms of the development of its internal as well as external quality attributes. In particular, it is very important to know when the maturity index is attained along with the rate of color change, sugar accumulation, acid dissipation, firmness loss, etc. This paper describes the results obtained for several quality attributes (rind color, firmness, juice content, juice titratable acidity and soluble solids content) of seven clementine cultivars sampled at different stages of maturity. All of the cultivars reached minimum maturity index (sugar / acid ratio greater than 7.0) by early November. The rate of rind color change is significantly influenced by picking period and is the main attribute that differs among most of the clementine cultivars. In addition, 'Guerdane', the new clementine cultivar, is the only cultivar that matures much later (January-February) and has the characteristics of a late-maturing cultivar both internally (juice quality) and externally (rind color).