부산대학교 도서관

Excessive fruits of satsuma mandarin (Citrus unshiu Marc.) are usually thinned at early stages of fruit development in Japan, based on leaf-fruit ratio of about 25, to enhance fruit growth and qualities, and also to prevent alternate bearing. However, the effect of crop load (fruit-thinning time and/or degree of thinning) on fruit taste is unclear. This study aimed to clarify the relationship between thinning time and fruit taste. With delaying the thinning time, the taste became better significantly and sugar content in the juice increased in very early-ripening 'Ueno wase' and early-ripening 'Miyagawa wase'. In each parameter on the taste, "sweetness" and "palatableness" marked higher scores. Thus, fruit taste can be improved by increasing crop load of the tree in early-ripening cultivars, may be resulted from, at least in part, the increase of sugar content in the juice.