The Big Push for New Processed Orange Varieties

Citrus breeders at the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS) have been making a big push for four years to develop new orange varieties for processing. The need for the push was accentuated last year by a multitude of adverse situations on the processing side of the business.

In a recent virtual presentation, UF/IFAS plant breeder Jude Grosser said that not-from-concentrate orange juice (OJ) consumption was down last year. Additionally, he said there was “almost no yield and the fruit quality is horrible. We had horrible Brix problems. We’re attacking all those sorts of problems with our new oranges.”

FAVORITE ORANGES
Grosser said his three favorite new UF sweet orange releases are B9-65 Valencia, OLL-8 and SF14W-62 Valquarius.

He said OLL-8 has produced substantially higher pound solids than nearby Valencia oranges for five years in a row. Because of the juice quality difference, “You can make $1,000 more per acre” from the OLL-8 than the Valencia. “For me, it’s a no brainer if you’re going to pick a late-season orange.”

HAMLIN OPTIONS
He said the new Hamlin somaclone N14-10 is showing increased Brix and pound solids. It shows better HLB tolerance than a standard Hamlin orange, but fruit quality is not better than a standard Hamlin.

Selected Vernia clones Grosser mentioned as candidates to replace the early-season Hamlin as a juice orange include:

• MB-26-10
• MB-25-12
• MB-26-14
• MB 25-2
• MB 25-7
• MB 25-9

BLENDING CANDIDATES
Grosser pointed out that regulations allow for up to 10% of Florida OJ to be juice from hybrid varieties. He discussed several hybrid blending candidates with tasty juice. “Sugar Belle was the first one we identified,” he said.

Grosser said several sweet orange-like hybrids have been selected for OJ improvement. Some of those have better HLB tolerance than standard juice oranges. They include:

• UF 1859
• 3-3-52
• KE-6-3
• C4-15-50
• C7-11-17

The plant breeder suggested that growers interested in any of the new varieties contact him or a UF/IFAS citrus Extension agent for more information.

Multi-county citrus Extension agent Mongi Zekri hosted Grosser’s virtual presentation.

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