Breeding and development of improved mango cultivars.
Human C. F., Rheeder S., Koekemoer T.
Author Affiliation: Instituut vir Tropiese en Suptropiese Gewasse, Privaatsak X11208, Nelspruit 1200, South Africa.
: 154-157
Abstract : The South African mango industry, producing 60 000 tonnes of fruits per year, has many problems with commercial cultivars. The cultivar, 'Tommy Atkins', representing almost half of the South African mango exports, arrives on the European markets in the peak month (January) when countries like Brazil are strongly represented on the markets. Problems such as this together with poor internal quality and susceptibility to diseases of other commercial cultivars initiated the breeding and evaluation programmes of the ARC-ITSC in 1990. Six-hectare open- and controlled cross-pollinated selections were evaluated at Messina, Nelspruit and Malelane during the past season. From this evaluations, 66 selections were selected on external appearance. Ten of these selections were included in evaluation trials at commercial co-workers in different mango growing areas by the Breeding and Selection Committee of the South African Mango Grower's Association. The selections, grouped according to their external colour, are as follows: red, A2L7, A2F11, C2A2, 'Joa', N9 and C2H8; yellow, C3I28 and A2CD28; green, A2Q9 and A2F1. Promising selections from the breeding programme, planted in 1992 in Phase II orchards, yielded significantly more fruits than any commercial cultivar. The fruits, however, are too small for export purposes. Selections E9-9/7 and H11 show potential by producing high yields with an acceptable fruit size. The rootstock trial includes 37 rootstocks at this stage. The first trees planted in 1992 produced its sixth crop. At this stage, the higher yields are obtained by most of the scion cultivars with 'Julie' as rootstock. In some instances, up to 50% more fruits were produced with 'Julie' as the rootstock in comparison with the commercial rootstocks.