Harvest delay of “Valencia" orange fruits has been a common practice of many citrus growers
and producers. Late harvest of ripe oranges may extend to May or June. Many problems are associated with
such delay, which reflect on reducing flowering and fruit set of the next season’s crop. There is a possibility of
regreening, in addition to the change in the taste due to the change in the TSS to acidity ratio. This study was
conducted during the two successive seasons 2017 and 2018 in Badr district, Al-Buhaira Governorate, Egypt to
deal with the consequence of harvest delay. Trees were sprayed to the run off by using pure urea of 0.5 or 1%
(w/v), Lysophosphatidylethanolamine (LPE) at 50 or 100 ppm and their combinations the surfactant Top film
was added to all treatments (at 1% v/v). Spray was done on the first week of December with a second spray on
the first week of January in both seasons. Briefly, the data indicated to a significant increase in fruit set,
especially with the application of LPE at 100 ppm combined with urea at 1%. Meanwhile, the least fruit
abscission was obtained with the same mentioned combination as well as the greatest fruit retention. Fruit
physical characteristics were enhanced in terms of fruit weight and size as well as the pulp weight by the
combinations of LPE at 50 or 100 ppm plus urea at 1%. Furthermore, the mentioned combinations were
effective on enhancing many chemical characteristics at harvest such as TSS and reduced acidity, as well as the
carotene content in the rind and the juice. Thus, this study provided some feasible treatments that could be
adopted on afield scale to deal with the consequences of delaying harvest of "Valencia" oranges.