The establishment and growth of young mango trees in on-farm hillside trials in Trinidad, W.I.
Roberts-Nkrumah L. B.
Author Affiliation: Department of Food Production, Faculty of Agriculture and Natural Sciences, University of the West Indies, St. Augustine, Trinidad and Tobago.
: 705-711
Abstract : On-farm hillside trials using mango have been established with five farmers on degraded land in the Maracas/St. Joseph Watershed in Trinidad to encourage them to adopt tree-crop based production systems for greater sustainability. Young trees of Graham and Starch mango cultivars were planted from September, 1997 on plots of 22 to 30° slope, at spacings of 8.3 or 16.3 m × 8.3 m in pure stands or intercropped with Spondias dulcis and short-term crops. Tree survival was in the range 81-100%. All plots were attacked by Atta sp. and nutritional deficiencies appeared on 2 farms. Plant height, canopy depth, canopy width, stem girth and leaf area were initially low, but by 16- to 18-months after establishment, the trees had attained good growth. Differences among farms and between cultivars for most parameters were not significant by February 1999, due apparently to better tree care in mixed crop systems with full-time attention. Trees on the lower portion of some slopes performed better than those on the upper portion. Greater support for the farmers with low-cost nutrient and pest control inputs is recommended.