# Citrus fruits

- By: Scott Bauer, USDA
- Date: Unknown date
- Classification: Photograph
- Credit line: This image was released by the Agricultural Research Service, the research agency of the United States Department of Agriculture, with the ID K7226-29 (next).
- Museum: [Wikimedia Commons](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Citrus_fruits.jpg)
- Rights: Public domain
- Picture: https://invisiblenetwork.ai/thumbs/commons/thumb/e/e0/Citrus_fruits.jpg/1920px-Citrus_fruits.jpg
- Who can see it: Kids profiles and older (museums give no ratings; placed by Invisible Network from the museum's own words)

Citrus fruits

More than 70 percent of all citrus fruits grown in the United States are varieties developed by the ARS citrus breeding program.

In Florida, the ARS has developed citrus varieties that are higher yielding with increased disease resistance, better color, and longer shelf life. A major success story is Ambersweet, a cold-hardy citrus that's been approved for use in orange juice products. Because it withstands Florida's occasional cold snaps that can ruin most citrus, Ambersweet is being widely planted in the Sunshine State. It took 20 years of patient breeding to develop it, but the payoff is huge.

If there's usually a grapefruit in your shopping cart, you may already have met up with a favorite ARS-created variety. It's a red-fleshed, thin-skinned, seedless grapefruit that was developed and released in 1987. Since then, over 4 million Flame nursery trees have been propagated in Florida. No other grapefruit variety has ever been so widely accepted and planted.

Orange sections can now be prepared by a patented ARS process that uses commercially available food-grade enzymes. The process also removes the bitter white portion of grapefruit peel, eliminating…