Crossing (Hybridization) on citrus

Crossing(Hybridization) in citrus

Introduction

Citrus is a hesperidium fruit. It is a native fruit of Asia, Australia. This fruit belong to Rutaceae family. In this blog we will discuss about the crossing  between two citrus variety.    

For example: (king mandarin× willow leaf)

         

Selection of bud for crossing 

• Select mature unopen buds. 

    

• Select male parent according to our objective.
• Selected stem of bud should not be leafless and full of flowers. This will not result in fruit set.
• Selected bud should must receive sunlight.
• We should select bud according to our height so that we hybridized easily.
• In some species crossing should be done in starting month of flowering before raise in temperature to get good result. As temperature start raising female part get disappear. Which will hinder in fruit set.
• Selected male parents should be left in sunlight for 3-4 hours for pollen dehiscence.
• Emasculation is done at early morning between 7am to 11am before bud opening.
• Bagging is done after emasculation to prevent from cross pollination.

• After pollen dehiscence crossing is done. After pollination rehabbing is done with tag.
• After 7 days butter paper bag is removed when fruit is set and there is no chance of cross pollination.

Tag include

Date of emasculation.
Date of pollination.
Name of parent plant.
Number of emasculated flowers.