Citrus Growing area, varieties and production process in Pakistan

 

Growing Areas

 

1. Punjab

Distt. Sargodha, Sahiwal, Lahore, Sialkot, Jhang, Minwali, Multan, Gujranwala

2. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (NWFP)

Mardan, Peshawer, Swat, Swabi, Noshera, Hazzara

3. Sindh

Sukkur, Khairpur, Nawabshah

4. Baluchistan

Mekran, Sibi and Kech.

 

Varieties

The main commercial varieties:

1. Sweet Orange

Succri, Mausami, Washington Navel, Jaffa, Red Blood, Ruby Red and Valencia Late. 

2. Mandarines

Feutrells Early and Kinnow

3. Grape Fruit

Mash Seedless, Duncan, Foster and Shamber

4. Lemon

Eureka, Lisbon Lemon and rough Lemon

5. Lime

Kaghzi Lime and Sweet Lime

Production Process

All the improved varieties are propagated by means of budding on rough lemons or sour orange. Rootstocks are generally grown through seed, T budding/T grafting are the usual method of citrus cultivars propagation. Budding may be done during spring (Feb-March) and autumn (August-October) when bark slip freely from both scion and stock. Bud should be selected from mature wood of productive and healthy trees. In sweet lime propagation through cutting is a common method.

Soil and Climate

Citrus trees can be grown on a wide range of soils, including deep sandy loam, loam and clay loam. However, they do not grow well in very heavy, clayey, sandy, and alkaline or water logged soils. Citrus fruits trees are grown in tropical and sub-tropical climate. Temperature is the main factor affecting, time of blooming, maturity, producing and fruit quality of citrus.

Pakistan is blessed with a climate ideally suited to the farming of all kinds of fruits – rich in taste and juicy. Farmers have been developing new varieties of fruit by grafting one exotic variety with other.

Season of Kino in Pakistan starts from December and last till April. Kinnow is very delicious in taste and if treated with proper fungicide and wax and careful handling and storage of Kinnow at about 4 Degree Centigrade can retain its freshness until 2 months.

Pakistan is one of the few countries in the world where some of the varieties of fruits grown in cool temperate climate such as apples, pears, plums and cherries while in warm temperate climate such as apricots, grapes, pomegranates and melon and in tropical and subtropical climate such as bananas, mangoes, dates, guava and citrus so the fruits are usually available throughout the year.

Nature has blessed Pakistan with ideal climate for growing a wide range of delicious fruits and large varieties of vegetables. Over the years, Pakistani experts have developed unique stains of exotic fruit varieties unmatched for their rich flavor and taste. From the selection of the finest fruits grown, a reasonable quantity is processed and properly packed for sales and consumption in local market and exporting abroad.

Kinnos

Sunny winters in Pakistan yield a large variety of citrus fruits. The juicy kinno is a unique hybrid of two varieties of California Oranges. It has a soft skin which is easy to peel and has a lovely fragrance.

Pakistan is fortunate in having great diversity in its soil and in its ecological and climatic conditions, ranging from extremely warm to temperate, to very cold. This enables the country to grow many kinds of trees, plants, shrubs, vines and creepers which yield a large variety of fruits and vegetables.

Pruning

At the time of transplanting the top portion should be balanced with the roots by removing some of the leaves, if necessary. Annual pruning is done to remove dried, diseased and those branches overcrowding the top of the tree. For a young citrus tree to have good frame work, no branches should be allowed on the main stem and two to four evenly spaced main limbs should be selected to provide balanced frame work. In Pakistan however, no systematic pruning is followed except for removal of dried, diseased and unwanted twigs.

Water Management 

The preferred method of irrigation is a basin round each tree the size of. There should be channels connecting basins so that irrigation of fruits trees can be independent of the inter-cropped area between the tree lines which have different water requirements. Growth sensitive periods to water shortage are flowering time (Feb/Mar), fruit setting (Apr/May).

Fertilizers and Manures

• Apply FYMs at the rate of 40 to 80 kg per tree during the winter season in Dec/Jan before flowering
• Apply 3-4 kg SSP and 1.5 to 2 kg of Urea 15-20 days (Jan/Feb) febore flowering
• Supply a further amount of Urea of 1.5 kg per tree after fruit setting (Mar/Apr)
• If necessary 1.5 kg of Potassium Sulphate may be applied at the time of applying FYM
• Watering is essential after each application of fertilizer

 

Harvesting

Picking of citrus fruits is done almost throughout the year. The fruit should be picked when it is fully ripe. It will not develop taste or sugar in storage after picking. The best method is to pick the individual fruit by holding it in one hand and cutting the stalk with a knife and collecting it into boxes or baskets to avoid injury to the stem. The average yield expected from different types of fruits in various species is 500 to 1000 fruit per tree.