The Uruguayan Citrus Consortium has launched a raft of new citrus varieties after more than 30 years of research and development.
The range comprises four new mandarin varieties and three new orange varieties, covering a wide marketing window, that have been developed to meet current consumer trends.
“This is the result of intense work, of a great team, with a systemic, interdisciplinary approach, which involves the joint work of several institutions and the commitment of producers, and we are really happy with the result obtained,” said Fernando Rivas, director of the Citriculture Programme at the National Institute for Agricultural Research (INIA).
According to Mariana Espino, director of INIA Salto Grande, the varieties have been well received by growers and are already being grown commercially in Uruguay.
“Following repeated requests from overseas we now want to make them available to other countries so that they can also develop them,” she said.
Alejandro Buratovich, president of Upefruy, the Union of Fruit Producers and Exporters of Uruguay, added: “This new genetic improvement programme gives us undoubted strengths in terms of product quality, marketing windows and reaching the most demanding markets, which will improve our competitiveness internationally”.
More information on the new varieties can be found here
