Comparative quality evaluation of mandarin (Citrus reticulata Blanco) fruits from the Darjeeling Hills

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Published

2026-06-30

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.58993/ijh/2026.83.2.17

Keywords:

Darjeeling mandarin, peel thickness, bioactive compounds, correlation analysis, PCA.
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Issue

Vol. 83 No. 02 (2026): Indian Journal of Horticulture

Section

Research Articles

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Copyright (c) 2026 Sujit Sarkar, Arindam Ghosh, Soumya Majumder, William Tamang, Natasha Gurung

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Authors

  • Sujit Sarkar ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute, Regional Station, Kalimpong 734301, West Bengal, India
  • Arindam Ghosh ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute, Regional Station, Kalimpong 734301, West Bengal, India
  • Soumya Majumder ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute, Regional Station, Kalimpong 734301, West Bengal, India
  • William Tamang ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute, Regional Station, Kalimpong 734301, West Bengal, India
  • Natasha Gurung ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute, Regional Station, Kalimpong 734301, West Bengal, India

Abstract

The research was carried out to assess the quality of Darjeeling Mandarin fruits through various morphological, physicochemical and biochemical parameters in a comparative manner. Mandarin samples were collected from farmer’s orchards located in places of Darjeeling and Kalimpong hills such as Mirik, Mungpoo, Sittong, and Samsing. Comparatively, samples from Silugaon, Mirik had the superior fruit weight, pulp weight, juice volume and vitamin C; Mungpoo samples showed higher peel weight, number of segments, number of seeds, total soluble solids (TSS) and total phenolic content; while lower values of such parameters were recorded for Sittong-1 samples. Peel thickness is an important character of citrus fruits that determines the mechanical protection and flavor. In this study, the peel thickness was measured to be in a range of 1.82 – 2.97 mm. TSS was found in a range of 9.61º-13.8ºBrix which is quite acceptable as per previous reported standard (>8ºBrix). The recorded pH values (3.95 – 4.14) were not satisfactory which revealed a higher acidic level in fruits as per consumer acceptability (>4.35 pH). Significantly higher phenolic content was recorded for samples collected from Mungpoo, Darjeeling. The location-based correlation analysis showed that all samples were positively correlated (>96% similarity) with each other. Principal component analysis revealed clear location-specific differentiation among the mandarin samples, identifying Labda for superior nutraceutical traits and Sittong-1 for yield-related attributes, thereby supporting targeted breeding and site-specific cultivation under the Himalayan conditions.

How to Cite

Sarkar, S., Ghosh, A., Majumder, S., Tamang, W., & Gurung, N. (2026). Comparative quality evaluation of mandarin (Citrus reticulata Blanco) fruits from the Darjeeling Hills. Indian Journal of Horticulture, 83(02), 247–256. https://doi.org/10.58993/ijh/2026.83.2.17

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