BHG - From the risk of losing precious genetic resources, Bop tangerine - a specialty citrus fruit variety of Bac Quang district is strongly reviving. The journey of restoring, preserving and developing Bop tangerine variety not only preserves precious native genetic resources but also opens up a new direction for modern, green, unique and sustainable agriculture.

According to many elderly farmers, Bop tangerines took root in Bac Quang before 1990 but were only grown on a small scale. Thanks to their beautiful appearance and unique flavor, this type of tangerine is mainly given as gifts to family and close friends, with only a small portion sold on the market at a price of 25 - 40 thousand VND/kg. According to statistics from professional agencies, in 2020, the whole district had only one Bop tangerine tree over 16 years old and about 50 other trees from 4 - 14 years old, most of which were intercropped in orange gardens and tea hills of only 8 households in Vinh Tuy town, Vinh Hao commune...

Growing Bop tangerines opens up opportunities to increase income and develop sustainable garden economy for people in Vinh Tuy town.

Despite its outstanding advantages, this specialty tangerine variety is at risk of fading away because people are not really interested in breeding and expanding the area. Meanwhile, the lack of scientific direction for the conservation and development of valuable genetic resources has made Bop tangerines stuck in a closed circle, unable to reach far in the market. Faced with this reality, in September 2021, the Provincial People's Committee promptly approved the provincial-level scientific project: "Restoring, preserving and developing the specialty Bop tangerine variety of Bac Quang district". The project was chaired by the Center for Services and Transfer of Science and Technology on Agriculture and Forestry of Bac Quang district, with Engineer Dang Tien Cuong - then Director of the Center, now Deputy Head of the District Department of Agriculture and Environment as the Chairman.

After nearly 4 years of implementation, the project not only brought valuable scientific results but also affirmed its high practicality. In 2022, 15 original Bop tangerine trees were recognized by professional agencies, creating a solid genetic foundation for the breeding process. From this success, scientists continued to create 5 S0 trees and 30 high-quality S1 trees, becoming a valuable source of materials for the next generation of varieties. In particular, the successful construction of a nursery of 3,000 disease-free S2 trees marked an important breakthrough, paving the way for large-scale seed production. Thereby, contributing to restoring growing areas, enriching the structure of fruit tree varieties, replacing old citrus areas, forming specialty products and increasing income for people.

Bop grapefruit weighs up to 400g/fruit, has delicious quality and eye-catching color.

One of the key objectives of the project is to gradually bring the Bop tangerine variety out of the home garden and into the commercial production area. To achieve this goal, the specialized agency coordinated to select Anh Tai Cooperative (Vinh Hao commune), Agricultural Services, Trade and Investment Cooperative of Gian Thuong village (Tien Kieu commune) and 16 households in the above communes to plant 3,760 new Bop tangerine trees with a total area of ​​6 hectares. Currently, the entire area is growing well, no pests or diseases have been recorded, creating a favorable foundation for the formation of a specialty raw material area, serving the development of commercial agriculture in the future.

In particular, on a total area of ​​0.5 hectares, scientists have tested grafting Bop tangerine branches onto Sanh orange and grapefruit rootstocks (Hoa Binh sour grapefruit, Thai Binh Chap grapefruit). The results showed that: With 0.25 hectares of Bop tangerine grafted onto Sanh orange rootstocks, the survival rate was only 30 - 40%, the trees grew poorly, and were not eligible for replication. On the contrary, when grafted onto grapefruit rootstocks, the survival rate was up to 95%, the trees grew healthily and yielded more than 1 ton of fruit/0.25 ha in the 2024 - 2025 crop year. This result shows the outstanding compatibility between Bop tangerine grafts and grapefruit rootstocks, opening up an effective, sustainable and cost-saving direction for cultivars.

Not stopping at the above results, the specialized agency also piloted the technique of breeding and using fertilizers at Mr. Nguyen Van Son's household, Tan Lap residential group (Vinh Tuy town) to perfect the comprehensive technical process from breeding, planting to care in a sustainable and biosafety direction. Up to now, Mr. Son's family has successfully grafted Bop tangerine onto 300 grapefruit trees, initially bringing positive results. Of which, 30 trees have produced stable fruit, in the 2024 - 2025 crop year alone, the yield reached more than 3 tons, with a selling price ranging from 40 - 50 thousand VND/kg, bringing in a revenue of over 120 million VND, becoming a clear demonstration of the economic potential of Bop tangerine when invested properly and in the right direction.

Engineer Dang Tien Cuong, Head of the project, shared: The scientific research results have confirmed the specialty value of Bop tangerine not only in its eye-catching appearance - bright yellow skin, smooth when ripe and ripe on the occasion of Lunar New Year, the "golden" time of the fruit market, but also in the outstanding quality of each tangerine segment: Juicy, sweet, natural aroma, with its own unique characteristics, hard to confuse with any other tangerine variety. Bop tangerine has an average weight of 4 - 5 fruits/kg, the average sweetness reaches 12.85%, and in some cases up to 13.3%. Not only that, the average dry matter content is 13.43%, the total sugar content is 8.51%, and the vitamin C content alone is up to 31.24mg/100g of fresh fruit, much higher than that of common citrus varieties. On the other hand, the total acid content in the fruit is only 0.44%, helping to balance the sweet and sour taste.

The above figures are the outstanding advantages of the Bop tangerine variety, at the same time, opening up a promising direction for this native fruit to become a specialty with a strong identity and a foothold in the high-quality fruit market. Thereby, not only creating sustainable livelihoods for farmers but also contributing to raising the value of Ha Giang agriculture on the map of Vietnamese agricultural products.

Article and photos: THU PHUONG

Source: https://baohagiang.vn/kinh-te/202505/khoa-hoc-dan-duong-hoi-sinh-quyt-bop-a7b2883/