Horticultural Studies, cilt.40, sa.1, ss.28-35, 2023 (Hakemli Dergi)
Satsuma (Rize) Mandarin is Türkiye's most widely produced and exported mandarin variety. Due to its early ripeness and seedlessness, Satsuma mandarin (Citrus unshiu Marc.) is a popular citrus fruit in domestic and foreign markets. The present study was conducted at Recep Tayyip Erdogan University, Faculty of Agriculture, Department of Horticulture in 2020-2021 to determine the shelf-life of Satsuma mandarin genotypes obtained as a result of clonal selection carried out in Rize province and its districts. The harvested mandarin variety candidates were pomologically analyzed and stored in an environment containing at 15°C ± 1 temperature and 55-60% humidity. The changes in fruit weight (g), fruit juice content (%), rind thickness (mm), total soluble solid (%, TSS), and titratable acid (%, TA) content were examined at one-week intervals during the storage period. It was determined that weight loss (%) and TSS (%) increased steadily, while fruit juice content (%), rind thickness (mm), and titratable acid (%) decreased steadily during storage in all genotypes and control. Also, the differences detected in terms of the properties examined were lower on 7 and 14 days than the initial value, whereas they were higher on 21 days. As a result of the findings, it was determined that the quality losses of mandarin genotypes showed differences during the shelf-life, but they could be stored for 14 days without much loss in quality.