page_title: Citrus
section_title: Description
hierarchical_section_title: Citrus / Description
caption_attribution_description: English: Citrus fruits More than 70 percent of all citrus fruits grown in the United States are varieties developed by the ARS citrus breeding program. In Florida, the ARS has developped citrus varieties that are higher yielding with increased disease resistance, better color, and longer shelf life. A major success story is Ambersweet, a cold-hardy citrus that's been approved for use in orange juice products. Because it withstands Florida's occasional cold snaps that can ruin most citrus, Ambersweet is being widely planted in the Sunshine State. It took 20 years of patient breeding to develop it, but the payoff is huge. If there's usually a grapefruit in your shopping cart, you may already have met up with a favorite ARS-created variety. It's a red-fleshed, thin-skinned, seedless grapefruit that was developed and released in 1987. Since then, over 4 million Flame nursery trees have been propagated in Florida. No other grapefruit variety has ever been so widely accepted and planted. Orange sections can now be prepared by a patented ARS process that uses commercially available food-grade enzymes. The process also removes the bitter white portion of grapefruit peel, eliminating hand-peeling and allowing more precise portion control. And the prepeeled fruit is ideal for school lunch programs and restaurants. Keeping oranges fresh is another citrus-oriented task we've taken on. Oranges that have been covered with our specially designed coating will stay fresh for up to 3 weeks at room temperature. In that time, fruit treated with the usual grocer's coatings will look shrunken and discolored. Français&#160;: Agrumes Plus de 70% des agrumes produits aux États-Unis proviennent de variétés développées par l'Agricultural Research Service, dépendant de l'USDA. Ces variétés, présentent un meilleur rendement, une meilleure résistance aux maladies, et produisent des fruits qui se conservent plus longtemps. L'un des succès est Ambersweet, un citrus utilisé pour faire des jus d'orange, mais dont la resistance au froid lui permet de survivre aux gelées qui frappent la Floride certains hivers. Cette variété est le résultat de 20 années de sélection. Un autre exemple est la variété de pamplemousse Flame, qui produit des fruits à chair rose, sans pépins, et à la peau fine. Cette variété est la plus plantée en floride de tous les temps. L'ARS développe aussi des procédés améliorant la qualité des agrumes de Floride, comme un traitement enzymatique qui permet de produire de grandes quantités de quartiers d'orange ou de pamplemousse, pour les cantines, par exemple; ou encore un revettement qui permet de prolonger la durée de conservation des fruits à l'étalage.
context_page_description: Citrus is a genus of flowering trees and shrubs in the rue family, Rutaceae. Plants in the genus produce citrus fruits, including important crops such as oranges, lemons, grapefruits, pomelos, and limes.
  The genus Citrus is native to South Asia, East Asia, Southeast Asia, Melanesia, and Australia. Various citrus species have been utilized and domesticated by indigenous cultures in these areas since ancient times. From there its cultivation spread into Micronesia and Polynesia by the Austronesian expansion; and to the Middle East and the Mediterranean via the incense trade route, and onwards to Europe.
caption: Slices of various citrus fruits
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