The largest Spanish and Italian citrus growers, major private and cooperative exporters, European importers, and representatives from leading national and continental distribution chains have confirmed their attendance at the field days organized by Agrícola Bagu to showcase its new XLO extra-early clementine.
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Given the expectations created, the company from Burriana (Castellón) has organized several days for visiting the farm it operates in Huelva, in Cartaya, where the first planting of this new spontaneous mutation of Oronules is at an advanced stage. After arranging a few private visits, the company will allow operators from all Spanish citrus-growing areas to see from September 23 to 25 how this new protected variety performs in the field. From September 26 to 29, the company has scheduled parallel sessions for two other groups: citrus growers from Italy and growers and marketers from growing regions in the Southern Hemisphere, such as Chile, Peru, and South Africa.
"Its exceptional organoleptic quality—identical to that of Oronules—and, most importantly, its uniformity, large size, early maturity, and good yields make this variety an ideal candidate to compete effectively under the best conditions with late mandarins from regions like South Africa. That's why it has generated so much interest in our country, among operators in the Southern Hemisphere, and in Italy, another major clementine-growing area in Europe," company sources stated.
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Bagu, the century-old export company from Castellon specializing in clementines and mandarins, will be offering a tasting of the first XLO crop at their stand in Fruit Attraction (Stand 3CO4, Ifema) from September 30 to October 2. Commercially named XLO because of its exceptional size and the initial letter of the variety it mutated from (Oronules). Before being protected, it was grafted in 2022 on the mentioned Cartaya farm to begin studying its development.
In 2023, production was around 50,000 kilos. In 2024, it tripled, reaching 150,000 kilos. This year's harvest will start soon, as this variety's harvest runs from mid-September to the end of October.
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As the graph shows, XLO had already reached the required commercial size by week 37 (September 9-14, 2024). It exhibits uniform growth, which enables us to predict its development and ensure high-quality fruit.
Over the years, it has also been possible to observe the consistent growth of the variety using the TrueFruit Size application, which allows weekly monitoring and projection of sizes. In fact, based on previous tests, up to 86% of the XLO fruit harvested exceeded 57 mm in diameter, producing sizes ranging from 58 to 70 mm. These sizes are significantly larger than those of Oronules and also surpass the sizes of the main late-season club mandarins from the Southern Hemisphere that are marketed in the EU during September and October.
XLO, additionally, and unlike other known Oronules mutations, is a clementine that grows on vigorous trees but without thorns on its branches that hinder harvesting. "This allows the tree to carry a greater fruit load and gives farmers more options when planting, grafting, or re-grafting it onto rootstocks that do not promote such strong vegetative growth. However, what has truly generated so much interest is that, unlike other early clementines, it is not multi-budded, which enables the production of such an exceptional size without complicating handling or incurring higher costs, like performing thinnings during the summer. Furthermore, the variety has a very attractive reddish-orange color, a smooth texture, and a high juice content (more than 50%)," said Bagu.
Agrícola Bagu has already reached an agreement with the Agrupación de Viveristas de Agrios SA (AVASA) to market XLO through its nine associated nurseries. In June 2024—after the Valencian Institute of Agricultural Research (IVIA) completed the necessary technical descriptive work to protect it—the buds were provided for multiplication, so the plant material remains limited, but licenses are already being issued.
© BaguFor more information:
Bagu
Plaza el Pla 3,
12530 Burriana, Castellón. Spain
Tel: +34 964 51 25 00
Email: [email protected]
www.baguclementinas.es