What was it all about?

From 2020 to 2023, this investment established several on-farm trials to investigate the impact of irrigation and nutrition on granulation in Imperial mandarins to give growers strategies for reducing the incidence of granulation in their crops. 

The most successful strategies were avoiding overwatering early in fruit development, maintaining consistently high crop loads and applying adequate nitrogen fertiliser in winter to support the spring flowering and flush. 

Imperial mandarins are prone to granulation, a physiological disorder which results in dry, tasteless fruit. Unfortunately, affected fruit cannot reliability be detected by appearance or density, and when granulated fruit reaches the market it has the potential to damage the reputation of the industry. By providing growers with advice on how to minimise granulation, there is the opportunity to improve consumer satisfaction through reduced incidence and severity of granulation in mandarins, and more consistent quality season to season.