Excessive nitrogen application deteriorates integrated citrus fruit quality: A multi-dimensional field study.
Consumer evaluation of citrus fruit quality is moving beyond the traditional sugar–acid ratio toward a broader set of attributes, including texture, flavor and nutritional value. Yet the effects of excessive nitrogen (N) fertilization, a common practice in citrus orchards, on these integrated quality traits remain poorly understood. Here, we combined a long-term field experiment with integrated metabolomic, appearance, texture, flavor and aroma analyses and membership-function-based quality evaluation to reveal how excessive N drives citrus fruit quality deterioration.