Abstract: In order to evaluate the quality of whole citrus fruit juice, 30 different citrus varieties (including Satsuma mandarin, ponkan, ‘Bingtang’ sweet orange and navel orange) from 7 regions in China were collected and determined for 18 indicators such as physicochemical, nutritional and processing properties. Principal component analysis (PCA) was applied to choose the best varieties suitable for whole citrus fruit juice processing. It was shown that there were significant differences in the number of seeds, and the contents of total flavonoids, limonoid and nomilin among different varieties; however, the differences in juice yield, L value, and b value were small. The results of factor analysis showed that the first six principal component factors including bitterness, processing, color, nutrition, acidity, and sweetness were extracted with eigenvalue over 1 and a cumulative contribution rate of 82.566%. Moreover, Newhall navel orange, ‘Fuben’ navel orange I, ‘Fuben’ navel orange II, ‘Bingtang’ sweet orange, ‘Daozhou’ navel orange, and ‘Langfeng 7904’ navel orange showed the best suitability for whole fruit juice production. The results in the present paper can provide a useful guidance for selecting proper citrus varieties for whole fruit juice processing.

Key words: citrus, whole fruit juice processing, quality evaluation, principal component analysis