Bo Zhang

Taizhou Huangyan Laoshuwang Citrus Professional Cooperative,Taizhou, 318020, Zhejiang, China
Author    Correspondence author
Biological Evidence, 2026, Vol. 16, No. 5   
Received: 31 Aug., 2026    Accepted: 27 Sep., 2026    Published: 05 Oct., 2026

This is an open access article published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Fruit cracking in Satsuma mandarin (Citrus unshiu) is an important physiological disorder that adversely affects the proportion of marketable fruit, yield stability, and orchard profitability. This study follows the progression of fruit development and changes in cracking risk, and summarizes the stage-specific characteristics of susceptibility formation during early fruit development, key management windows after full bloom, the rapid fruit enlargement stage, and the main cracking period. Major influencing factors, including soil moisture and rainfall, temperature, fruit growth and peel load-bearing capacity, tree nutrition, crop load, and orchard conditions, are also analyzed. The periods of 50~60 and 80~90 days after full bloom (DAFB) can be regarded as important reference management windows, while fruit cracking in ‘Miyagawa Wase’ Satsuma mandarin occurs mainly during 110~150 DAFB. However, these periods should be adjusted according to cultivar, year, and production region. Field management should shift from reactive treatment after cracking occurs to early intervention during critical periods, with emphasis on coordinated irrigation and drainage, stable soil moisture, balanced nutrition, appropriate crop load, and tree vigor management. Family farms can establish low-cost management systems through fixed monitoring trees, weather forecasting, simple soil-moisture assessment, and annual record keeping. Future research should further refine region-specific critical periods, thresholds for water and nutrient management, and practical early-warning tools to improve the operability of fruit-cracking prevention and management.

Satsuma mandarin (Citrus unshiu); Fruit cracking; Critical periods; Fruit enlargement; Water management; Field management; Family farm