Studies on irrigation regimes on mango trees. I - Effect of different irrigation treatments on flower malformation, fruit drop, yield, fruit quality and leaf mineral content of Zebda mango trees.
Abou Rawash M., El-Gazzar A. A., Ibrahim A. R.
Author Affiliation: Hor. Dept., Fac. of Agric., Ain Shams Univ., Shoubra El-Kheima, Cairo, Egypt.
Annals of Agricultural Science, Moshtohor 42 : 1885-1896
Abstract : A trial was carried out during 2001 and 2002 seasons to study the effect of different irrigation regimes on flower malformation percentage, fruit drop, yield, quality and leaf mineral (N, P, K, Ca, Mg, Zn, Fe and Mn) content of mango cv. Zebda, grown in a private farm located at Berkash (Giza governorate, Egypt), where a computerized drip irrigation system was adopted. The treatments comprised 4 levels of irrigation: 120% (control), 100%, 80% and 60% from evapotranspiration (Eto). Trees under 80% Eto did not show any malformed inflorescences and had the greatest yield through increasing number of fruits per tree and reducing fruit drop percentage. In addition, this treatment improved the quality by increasing fruit volume, fruit weight, pulp weight, pulp/fruit ratio, pulp total soluble solids (TSS), TSS/acid ratio and sugar content. Moreover, this treatment reduced the amount of irrigation water by approximately one third that of the control. The leaf mineral content seemed to be unaffected by the various treatments.