Jie Xu^1,2

1 Huangcunqiao Village Committee, Jiangjia Town, Chun'an County, Chun'an, 311722，Zhejiang, China
2 Zhejiang Agronomist College, Hangzhou, 310021, Zhejiang, China
Author    Correspondence author
Plant Gene and Trait, 2026, Vol. 17, No. 5   
Received: 17 Sep., 2026    Accepted: 20 Oct., 2026    Published: 27 Oct., 2026

This is an open access article published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

This study examines recent English-language research on canopy architecture, pruning, flowering, fruit thinning, fruit quality, and orchard sensing. Mandarin studies provide the principal evidence; findings from other citrus crops are used with explicit attention to their transferability. The analysis distinguishes light interception from light distribution, carbohydrate availability from developmental signaling, and total yield from marketable production. Pruning can improve canopy renewal, but its effects depend on tree age, treatment timing, retained foliage, and subsequent crop load. Thinning can improve fruit growth, yet very low loads do not necessarily improve soluble solids or peel condition. A literature-based Satsuma case compares a greenhouse canopy-training investigation with a separate delayed-harvest crop-load experiment. Both studies support an integrated approach to canopy management and fruiting regulation. This study aims to clarify the relationships among canopy architecture, crop load, and fruit quality, provide a theoretical basis for the appropriate combination of pruning and thinning practices in mandarin production, and offer management guidance for increasing marketable fruit yield, improving fruit quality, and maintaining stable production over successive seasons.

Mandarin; Canopy management; Fruiting regulation; Light distribution; Crop load; Fruit quality; Sustainable production