Citrus fruits — varieties, chemistry, technology, and quality evaluation. Part I: Varieties, production, handling, and storage

In part I of this comprehensive critical review on citrus fruits, the origin, botany, and classification are briefly discussed. The present status of citrus breeding with the objectives of overcoming the serious problems of die‐back and other disastrous diseases, and of producing varieties having a long harvesting period and giving a higher yield of high quality fruits, have been critically reviewed. Factors affecting the fruit quality such as rootstock, climate, and nutrition are reviewed generally with reference to established types of citrus fruits. World citrus production data has been carefully collected and presented both country‐wise and fruit‐wise to show the enormous growth and potential. Changes in composition during growth and maturation are presented with the view to fixing maturity and quality parameters and standards. Harvesting, handling, transportation, and storage aspects have been reviewed from the standpoint of optimal maintenance of quality of fruits intended for processing as well as for sale as fresh table fruit. The current problems that demand early solution have been highlighted. The succeeding parts will review chemistry, processing, and evaluation of quality.