The Citrus Open Day took place on 2 December 2025 in Kfar Habad, Israel. The event was part of the CrackSense project’s commitment to organising Open Days that share ongoing work with growers, researchers, and partners. These gatherings provide an opportunity to present progress, demonstrate practical methods, and exchange views on citrus production challenges.
Understanding Fruit Cracking in Citrus
Fruit cracking is a well-known issue across several citrus cultivars and can lead to significant yield losses. Its occurrence varies from season to season and depends on many internal and external factors. Plant traits such as peel structure and genetic background influence the fruit’s resilience.
Environmental conditions, including climate patterns and soil texture, also play a role in determining how sensitive the fruit may be. At certain stages of fruit development, extreme weather or unsuitable irrigation can weaken the peel’s ability to expand. In years when these pressures intensify, more than half of the fruits may be affected.
The difficulty is that the interaction of climate, nutrition, management, and fruit physiology remains complex and unpredictable. At present, no complete model can reliably forecast cracking risks for a specific cultivar in a specific location.
The Role of Sensing Technologies
One possible route towards improved management is early detection. If cracking risks could be identified before symptoms appear, growers would have more time to adjust their practices. Imaging tools and sensing methods have shown promise, but they must be expanded and combined to be effective at orchard scale. Remote sensing, proximal sensing, meteorological monitoring, and Earth Observation data together can form larger datasets that support risk assessment models.
CrackSense aims to advance sensing methods that capture information at fruit, tree, and plot scales. By combining tools and integrating them into models, it is possible to improve understanding of the disorder. Machine learning and AI methods play an important part in analysing the combined datasets and estimating the likelihood of cracking. The ultimate aim is to support growers with clearer insights and practical tools for managing yield losses.
Highlights from the Citrus Open Day
The Citrus Open Day programme began with welcoming participants before the morning session. Avi Sadka, one of the coordinators of the CrackSense project from the Volcani Institute (ARO), introduced the event, provided an overview of citrus cracking, and explained the involvement of the Volcani Institute and Mehadrin in the project. He continued with an outline of the experimental design and horticultural findings presented at the site.
Victor Alchanatis, another coordinator of the CrackSense project from the Volcani Institute, then offered a short introduction to remote and proximal sensing methods used for studying cracking-related fruit properties. The Citrus Open Day included demonstrations of UAV flights, stem water potential measurements, stomatal conductance and LAI tools, the TOMMY platform, and fruit and soil sensors.
Moshe Dubinin from Ben-Gurion University presented approaches for yield estimation and cracking prediction. Mehadrin representatives contributed practical insights from their orchards and explained the value of collaboration with research teams.
The Citrus Open Day concluded with an open discussion that encouraged reflections and next steps. These events support knowledge exchange and help ensure that research aligns with the needs of those working directly with citrus orchards.
New Moments Await in CrackSense’s Final Year
You can read about our previous Open Days through the links provided below.
- CrackSense Open Day at Novi Sad Agri Fair
- CrackSense Open Day at the Cherry Orchard in Lithuania
- Open Day in France: Tackling Cherry Cracking Together
- Open Day in Greece Showcases Fruit Cracking Solutions
- Pomegranate Open Day: Secrets of the Orchard
- Pomegranate Open Day in Greece: Field Insights Uncovered
As the CrackSense project enters its final year, we will continue preparing new milestones and updates that reflect the progress achieved with our partners and growers. You can follow us on LinkedIn and read articles from our Newsroom to stay up to date.