History of Mangifera indica (Mango)

History of Mangifera indica (Mango)

M. indica was evidently domesticated in the northern India-Burma region, where it still grows wild in the hills of Assam and adjacent areas.

The wild trees, like their cultivated derivates, can grow to over 40 m in height and live for over a century.

The mango was probably being planted in India by 2000 B.C and is prominently recorded in ancient Sanskrit writings.

Human selection has been concentrated on the fruit and has produced cultivars with much larger, better flavored fruits with less resin and fiber and smaller pits.

During the 17th century, the Portuguese planted mangoes in coastal areas of both East and West Africa; but acceptance by the Africans was slow and spread into the interior was erratic.

Mango trees were present in a few interior market towns in West Africa, e.g., Fouta Djallon, when European explorers arrived in the late 19th century, but most of the spread came later.

The earliest known successful introduction of M. indica to the New World was to Bahia in Brazil about 1700 with plantings elsewhere along the Brazilian coast soon after.

In 1742, the mango was successfully introduced to Barbados from Rio de Janeiro. Soon other direct introductions to the West Indies were made from the Indian Ocean.

In latter half of the 18th century, British and French colonial botanical gardens played a leading role in mango introduction.

Mango trees, along with East Indian spice trees, were planted in the St. Vincent botanical garden when it was started in 1766.

Meanwhile, a quite spate introduction had taken place across the Pacific from the Philippine to Mexico.

Mangoes were not grown around Manila until over a century after the trade with Mexico began, nor were they grown in Mexico until late in the 18th century when Mexico acquired, under the name of mango of Manila, the unusual apomictic variety grown in the Philippine and Guam.

The great expansion of mango growing over tropical Central and South America took place between 1800 and 1850 mainly by casualty planted and volunteer seedling trees often yielding poor quality fruit.

Geographic spread of Mangifera was essentially completed in the last half of the 19th century with its introduction to such far flung places as Florida, Hawaii, Fiji, Queensland and Natal.
History of Mangifera indica (Mango)

Mango Clustering

Mango Clustering
Clustering of fruits after fruit at the tip is not conducive for the development of fruits.

This is characterized by a cluster of fruitlets at the tip of the panicle, giving a bunchy appearance.

These fruitlets are dark green with a deeper curve in the sinus beak region than in normal developing fruits.

After attaining pea or marble size, further growth of fruits is retarded and they remain on the panicle for some time.

This disorder in mango has not been well documented.

Preliminary observation suggested that it may be physiological in nature as no pest or disease was found to be associated.

The failure of fruit set due to adverse climatic conditions might have led to the increase of hermaphrodite flowers.

These fruits grow parthenocarpically up to the marble size.

It was shown that 92% of such fruits originated from aborted embryos.

Those panicles which showed clustering did not carry any fruit on the side rachis, and those panicles which carried fruits on the side rachis generally did not show the symptom of clustering. Mango Clustering

History and Origin of Mango

History and Origin of Mango
The mango has been known in India since very early times. It is referred to in Sanskrit literature as Amra and has been under cultivation by man for over 4000 years.

It appears, however, that Hsiian-tsang, one of the early travelers to India (632-645), was the first person to bring mango to the notice of people outside India.

This fruit occupied an important place in horticulture during the rule of the Mogul emperors in India, and Akbar the Great (1556-1605) planted an orchard of 100,000 mango trees.

The origin of most o the improved varieties in India have been traced to those days, and the encyclopedia Ain-e-Akbari (1590 AD) contains a good account of the mango regarding its quality and varietal characteristics.

Phytogeographical data studies of the phylogenetic taxonomy of species of Mangifera indicate that this genus originated in the Indo-Burma region.

Most of the cultivated varieties have arisen from four main species – Mangifera indica, Mangifera sylvatica, Mangifera odorata, and Mangifera zeylanica.

Mango cultivation is found in many countries of Southeast Asia – the Philippines, Indonesia, Java, Thailand, Burma, Malaysia and Sri Lanka.

Introduction of the mango to East and West Africa and subsequently to Brazil is said to have occurred in the sixteenth century.

Mexico acquired the mango in the nineteenth century, and it entered Florida in 1833. The cultivated mango varieties are the result of constant selection by man from original wild plants for over 4000 years.

The wild progenies are still available in India in two species, Mangifera indica and Mangifera sylvatica, which have small fruits with a big stone, thin acidic flesh and long fibers.

The knowledge of vegetative preparation gained in the sixteenth century made it possible to produce a large number of cultivars which were far superior to the wild forms.

This fruit have little fiber, and are sweet in taste with more flesh.
History and Origin of Mango

Breeding Objective of Mango

Breeding Objective of Mango
Most of the commercial mango cultivars have a strong bienial bearing tendency. Thus the main objectives of breeding have been regular bearing and good fruit quality.

An ideal mango variety should possess tree dwarfness; attractive (golden apricot) color on ripening, medium size (5 in a kg) and good quality fruit (high pulp: stone ratio, firm and fibreless flesh); precocious and regular in bearing; highly tolerant to various diseases including malformation and pests; and high keeping quality.

Although at present none of the commercial varieties of mango has all these characteristics combined into one, it would be futile to take up all these objective s at a time in any mango breeding programme.

Therefore, these characters are to be incorporated at stages and the variety is to be built up gradually.

There is suggestion that the ease with which a cultivar can be spoon eaten among the evaluating criteria while breeding a superior among cultivar.

A good mango variety should have a high ration (3.31 to 4.0 of edible to non edible matters.
Breeding Objective of Mango