yashar, a new late ripening mandarin hybrid

late ripening citrus cultivars are very acceptable in the market. with respect to scarcity of late ripening citrus cultivars in iran, the project was conducted to produce a new late ripening cultivar for 21 years (1989-2009). the first phase (1989-1993) was started with controlled pollination between mineolla tangelo (citrus paradisi × c. reticulata) and changsha mandarin (c. changsha). after achieving hybrid plants, primary quantitative and qualitative evaluations of fruits were done in the second phase (1994-1998) and finally ‘yashar’ hybrid was selected in 1998. the evaluation of quantitative and qualitative yield and compatibility of ‘yashar’ with basic rootstocks of northern iran including troyer citrange (poncirus trifoliata × c. sinensis), poncirus (p. trifoliate), swingle citrumelo (p. trifoliata × c. paradisi), sour orange (c. aurantium) and flying dragon (p. trifoliata cv. flying dragon) were completed in the third and the fourth phases (1999-2009). the results showed that ‘yashar’ has moderately vigorous, extensive canopy and rather thorn less. fruits are medium-sized, subglobose to spherical, round to slightly oblate to spherical and moderately seedy. rind is thin, somewhat leathery, surface moderately smooth and with large and prominent oil glands, easily separable with difficulty and orange-red at development. ‘yashar’ is a spring ripening fruit, is slightly larger and it has good quality. also, among the rootstocks, swingle citromelo is more productive and has heavier fruits than those on the other rootstocks. therefore, it is seems that this rootstock is a good choice for ‘yashar’ trees for planting in the north of iran.