Advances in mango culture in India.
Gunjate R. T.
Author Affiliation: Horticulture Department, Reliance Agro Initiatives, Reliance Greens, Motikhavadi - 361 140, Dist: Jamnagar (Gujarat), India.
: 69-78
Abstract : India is the largest producer of mangoes with 10.8 million MT from 1.6 million ha accounting for 41% of World's mango production. The productivity remains to be low at around 7.8 MT/ha. The export of fresh fruits is less than 0.5% of production. Extensive new mango plantations are coming up in some States like Maharashtra and Gujarat. New hybrids like Mallika and Ratna are getting popular for new plantation. The majority of mango plantation is rain fed with conventional spacing of 10×10 m. High density planting is being adopted for new planting with use of drip irrigation. Stone and soft wood grafting has replaced conventional inarching in most of the States. Though polyembryonic cultivar like Vellaikolamban has been recommended as dwarfing rootstock for Alphonso many years back still nondescript seedling rootstocks are being used for commercial plantation. Still empirical methods of nutritional management are being employed. Training and pruning is being employed in new plantations. Rejuvenation of old unproductive orchards by pruning is getting popular. Use of paclobutrazol has become common in some states like Maharashtra and Gujarat. One spray of 50 ppm GA3 has been useful to prevent recurrent flowering in Alphonso cultivar. Anthracnose, powdery mildew, mango hoppers, mealy bugs, thrips and scales are the major pest problems which are being managed with IPM. Mango malformation and spongy tissue continue to be serious maladies though some practical and effective measures have been recommended. Post harvest losses continue to be very high due to lack of improved post harvest handling facilities.