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Orange (kamala) common name of fruits belonging
to the genus Citrus of family Rutaceae. Orange possibly originated
in China, where the Chinese started planting it about four thousand years
ago. There are many varieties of orange, some of which are either sweet
or sour. The growing place of sour variety is North Europe. Columbus first
planted the sweet variety in the USA. Orange now grows in countries like
Japan, Spain, Brazil, India, Argentina, South Africa, Australia, Mexico,
Italy, Greece and Morocco. In India it grows well in West Bengal, Tamil
Nadu, Punjab, Assam, Orissa, Gujrat, Tripura, Andhrapradesh, and Meghalaya.
In Bangladesh orange is grown in some places of Sylhet, Chittagong
Hill Tracts, Rangpur, and Panchagarh. The most commercially species
important are the common or China orange, C. sineusis;
the mandarine orange, C. reticulata, some varieties of
which are known as tangerins; and the sour or Seville orange,
C aurantium.
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Orange and orange segment |
Plantation of orange has come down from 1,070 acres (1990-91)
to 790 acres (1994-95) in Bangladesh. Orange plants are perennial medium-sized
upright trees, which have lanceolate leaves with narrowly winged petiole.
The plants are propagated vegetatively either by grafting or budding.
Plants start bearing fruits after 4-5 years of planting. Flowers are borne
singly or a few occur together in the leaf axils. Fruits are loose skinned,
medium-sized and when ripe become orange coloured. Segments (8-10) are
easily separable; the pulp is juicy and sweet. Each segment contains some
pointed seeds, with light green cotyledons.
Fresh fruits, rich in Vitamin C, are preferred for consumption.
Every 100g orange contains 0.93g protein, 0.3g fat, 11.02g carbohydrate,
0.4g mineral, 0.05g calcium, 0.02g phosphorus, and 0.1g iron. Each
kg of orange contains about 490 calorie of energy. Oranges are used in
making jam, jelly, juice, squash, etc. Perfume is produced from the flowers,
leaves and skin of orange. The bangladesh
agricultural research institute (BARI) has recently released
one variety named BARI Kamala Lebu 1. The fruit is nearly round,
juicy and sweet. A matured plant may produce 300-400 fruits, and has an
average weight of 190g.
[SM Monowar Hossain and Md Mukbil Hossain]
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