Pomelo and orange make valuable input for gardeners

The Vietnam Agriculture Newspaper (VAN) in collaboration with Dr. Nguyen Minh Chau introduce pomelo and orange as special fruits creating a valuable input for many gardeners.

The southern region has two popular varieties of pomelo including green skin and Nam Roi. Previously, the pomelo only gave fruit before and during the Lunar New Year, but now local gardeners can produce fruit all year round.

The green-skin pomelo variety won the first prize at the Delicious Fruit Contest organized by the Southern Fruit Institute in 1999. It originated from in Mo Cay district, Ben Tre Province.

Green-skin pomelo is very delicious, sweet and seedless if it is planted with only one variety in the garden. Its price is much higher than that of Nam Roi. Currently, the green skin pomelo has been planed in many regions of the Southeast, South Central Coast and even Hue city.

Green-skin pomelo is both delicious and easy to produce year round, so this variety is very popular and has been exported to many countries such as China and Europe by fruit exporting companies in Ben Tre and HCM City.

Nam Roi pomelo is originated from Binh Minh district, Vinh Long Province. As the green-skin pomelo has yet appeared, Nam Roi was seen the No.1 delicious pomelo variety in the South.

Nam Roi grapefruit has a moderate price compared to the green-skin one, so it is still popular in the West. If it is harvested at the right time, the quality is also very good.

Thanks to its pear-shaped fruit shape, it is very suitable to create a gourd shape or engrave the words Phuc (Happiness), Loc (Wealth), and Tho (Longevity) on the the skin, which is very expensive on the occasion of Tet (Lunar New Year).

The Cuu Long Mekong Delta is well-known for Sanh orange and Xoan orange.

Sanh orange variety is widely grown in Tien Giang, Vinh Long, Ben Tre, Dong Thap and Hau Giang. It is favored by consumers, especially its juice in the summer. In the past, this orange had brought high income for gardeners but now its price is not high due to the fact that people have grown very thick, making the output is too high and the price down. In addition, it has suffered the disease of yellow-leaves in recent years.

Xoan orange is a delicious and sweet orange variety grown popularly in the West. This variety is used to eat fresh, not squeezed juice like Sanh orange.

In the South, there are two popular varieties of mandarin including sugar mandarin and Lai Vung mandarin.

The sugar mandarin variety is popularly grown in Cang Long district, Tra Vinh province. The fruit is very delicious and sweet while its skin is very shiny and beautiful, partly thanks to yellow ants, which are released at the garden to control and destroy many harmful insects. This fruit is also grown in Ben Tre, Tien Giang, Dong Thap and the southeast provinces of Dong Nai and Binh Duong.

Lai Vung mandarin is popular in Lai Vung district, Dong Thap, with the characteristic that when ripe, the fruit has an orange color. It is highly appreciated on the Lunar New Year because people like to display this fruit on a five-fruit tray.

However, the growing area has recently decreased significantly due to yellow leaf disease and root rot.