Yilong Marshal Pomelo

Yilong Marshal Pomelo

Yilong Marshal Pomelo is an agricultural product with geographical indication status.

　　Yilong County has a long history of pomelo cultivation, dating back over a century. Dozens of pomelo trees with trunks more than 40 cm in diameter still exist in Heyang Brigade of Da’yi Commune in Guanzhi District and Tieshan Commune in Ma’an District. According to local villagers, in 1909, when Zhu De was studying at the Yunnan Military Academy, he sent someone back home with a batch of pomelo saplings and instructed his family to plant them in Ma’an, his hometown. A few years later, the pomelo trees blossomed and bore fruit, which were sweet and delicious. From March 9 to 11, 1960, Commander Zhu returned to his hometown, Ma’anchang in Yilong County, after being away for over 50 years. While inquiring about local production and people’s livelihoods, he also asked about the growth of the pomelo trees he had sent for back then. The villagers replied that the trees bore good fruit and the quality was excellent. Commander Zhu was pleased to hear this and urged the county officials present to focus on developing production and diversifying agriculture. The leaders of the Yilong County Party Committee and government kept the Commander’s instructions in mind. After nearly 30 years of development, the main pomelo-producing areas gradually took shape in towns such as Ma’an, Tieshan, Da’yi, and Laomu. On November 6, 1968, Zhu Jin, the Commander’s grandnephew, visited Beijing and specially brought some pomelos from his hometown. The Commander praised them highly after tasting them. On December 1, 1973, when leaders from Yilong County Party Committee and government visited the Commander in Beijing, they presented him with the hometown’s specialty honey pomelos. The Commander specifically asked about the development of the pomelo industry and the income of the local people. In 1986, when the Commander’s wife, Kang Keqing, returned to Yilong County to attend the centennial commemoration of Commander Zhu’s birth, the county leaders reported on the local production situation. Vice Chair Kang also inquired about the pomelo production in Yilong. The care and attention from these leaders injected momentum into the development of Yilong’s pomelo industry. In the 1980s, agricultural technicians from the Yilong County Fruit and Tea Technology Guidance Station discovered a special early-maturing pomelo bud mutation on a single tree in the orchard of Li Jixiang at She 10, Daxing Village, Laomu Township, Guanzhi District. This tree belonged to the Ponkan pomelo series. It had a moderate tree vigor, medium-sized fruits, and an extremely early ripening period from late October to mid-November. The flavor was moderately sweet and sour, with fine and crisp flesh that separated easily from the peel. The fruit had a rich aroma and excellent quality. In 1998, Professor He Tianfu, former director of the China Citrus Research Institute, visited the site and specially named it “Marshal Pomelo.” To make full use of this premium resource, the Yilong County Agriculture Bureau organized professional technicians to adopt various measures such as high-grafting and seedling propagation to vigorously develop the Marshal Pomelo. By the late 1990s, the planting area of Marshal Pomelo in the county reached 12,000 mu, with an annual yield of 1,300 tons. In 1998 and 1999, it won the “Golden Cup Award” in the fifth and sixth National Pomelo Quality Competitions, respectively. In recent years, with the deepening advancement of agricultural industrialization in Yilong County, and by pursuing the path of specialized and branded agriculture while continuously expanding markets, the county has adopted an industrial development model of “company + association + base + farmer.” This model implements unified planning, centralized procurement of agricultural inputs, unified product recovery, and unified sales, guiding farmers to transition from traditional to modern agriculture. Through increased investment in science and technology, large-scale development, and scientific cultivation and management, Yilong Marshal Pomelo has become popular in major cities such as Chengdu, Chongqing, Nanchong, and Bazhong. Its market prospects are promising, with vast potential and strong consumer appeal.

　　Geographic Scope

　　The protected area for the Yilong Marshal Pomelo geographical indication includes nine townships in Yilong County, Nanchong City: Huichun Town, Zhongba Township, Tumen Town, Jincheng Town, Rixing Town, Dafeng Township, Ziziqiao Town, Zhouhe Town, and Ma’an Town. It covers 149 administrative villages and borders Nanbu County, Langzhong City, and Bazhong City. The geographical coordinates are between 106°21′–106°50′ east longitude and 31°23′–31°33′ north latitude. The protected area spans 4,000 hectares with an annual yield of 30,000 tons.

　　Product Quality Characteristics

　　(1) External Sensory Features: Yilong Marshal Pomelo fruits are medium-sized, oblate in shape, with a broad and flat fruit apex and a conical, slightly asymmetrical fruit stalk. The peel is golden yellow, with dense, raised oil glands of medium coarseness. The peel is thin, with a white spongy layer, 12–15 carpels, a semi-solid central column, and closely packed, long, honey-yellow juice sacs. The flesh is crisp and tender, easy to separate from the peel, with moderate juice content. The taste is pleasantly sweet and sour, with a rich flavor, more seeds, and excellent overall quality. (2) Internal Quality Indicators: Yilong Marshal Pomelo has a high edible rate (≥60%) and soluble solids content of ≥10%. (3) Safety Requirements: It complies with the standards set forth in the “Agricultural Product Safety Quality – Safety Requirements for Pollution-Free Fruits” (GB-18406).