New and better citrus varieties to gain ground over other fruit crops

The current citrus market trends lead to a constant search for new varieties that are more visually attractive, seedless, easier to peel, have a better flavour and offer earlier and longer productive periods aimed at reducing the gap between supply and demand and improving commercial activities.

Based in Valencia, Spain, the firm Citrus Genesis was founded almost four years ago with the objective of developing citrus varieties in both hemispheres, with highly-specialised human resources and experimental plantations in many of the most relevant citrus-producing countries.

This young and dynamic firm has reached partnerships with over 30 leading citrus producers and traders worldwide, who share the same interest in the development of new varieties as an essential tool to differentiate their future supply and invest in the best international scientific improvement programs.

"The firms within our association have access to experimental plantations, and the data obtained from agronomic evaluations are shared with all the associates; their goals are to maximise the potential of these new varieties, differentiate their citrus supply and manage it in non-traditional ways," explains David Alba, manager of Citrus Genesis. "Together we are stronger."

Regarding the development of new varieties, "our strategy is based on six fundamental pillars," explains David Alba.

1. Continuous improvement of the varieties, both their external and internal quality. The peel's colour must be an intense orange, almost red, for the fruit to be more visually attractive. It is also essential for the fruit to be easy to peel, as the markets prefer products that are convenient to consume, which is why the consumption of mandarins is increasing over other citrus products.

2. Search for new, more intense and unique flavours, with the right balance between sweetness and sourness, with a high juice content, refreshing, with a pleasant texture, etc.

3. Absence of seeds in the entire range of citrus products, including lemons, limes, grapefruits, oranges, and of course, the various types of mandarins. Our more sophisticated European clients demand a continuous supply of citrus with a maximum of 3 seeds for every 100 pieces.

4. Innovative products, whether in their shape, size or the peel's pigmentation, for example.

5. Development and assessment of patterns that entail all sorts of improvements to the new varieties.

6. Reducing the gap between supply and demand by means of extra-early and extra-late varieties, aiming to achieve better returns for producers and a consistent and great quality supply all year long, with production in both hemispheres. "With this objective, we can gain ground over other fruit crops."

Citrus Genesis has already obtained late varieties, such as the satsuma Bela, the Clemenlate clementine and the excellent Cambria orange; and early varieties like the Octubrina clementine (an early and very productive Clemenules mutation) or the Cultifort clementine (very early Oronules mutation) among many other extra-early and ultra-late varieties, all of them with an outstanding quality.

One of the greatest threats for those aiming to obtain, research and improve varieties is the illegal spread and exploitation of patented varieties without a licence; which sometimes happens accidentally, but can also be intentional.

"Although clear laws about the intellectual property on plant varieties are in place, we believe that many growers have ignored the rights of those obtaining new varieties, similar to the copyright that protects music or film authors, for example. For this reason, we find growers who spread protected varieties ignoring that they need a licence to do so. There are also, however, many growers or producing firms who, despite perfectly knowing the legislation, they decide to go ahead and break the law, aware of the difficulty it entails to detect such cases and fight them efficiently nowadays," he insists.

"The varietal development process in citrus and other fruit crops takes a lot of work, is very complex and takes a long time, besides also being expensive, so we believe it to be fair for researchers, who invest an average of 25 years of their lives developing a new variety, receive a compensation for their work when producers wish to plant and exploit it," affirms David.

"In my opinion, the current varietal protection system is correct and effective, but not efficient enough given the time it takes between an application for protection and its granting. This period can often take 6 or 7 years and can be used by certain producers to exploit the varieties without a licence, leaving the applicant defenceless until the protection is granted. By the time this happens, if the variety is successful due to its good agronomic qualities, the producer will often have lost control and it will become extremely difficult and costly to reverse the situation. This results in the paradox that the more successful is the achievement accomplished by the researcher, more defenceless can his or her creation be until protection is granted."

Therefore, according to David Alba, seeking more efficient alternatives to the current system is not only a responsibility of the authorities. "The industry as a whole should take steps for the creation of a new and better model that benefits the entire sector, with representatives from the authorities and public institutions, producer associations, patented variety protection firms, exporters, distribution chains, etc."

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David Alba