Mango

Mango is the national fruit of India, known as the 'King of Fruits'. It is one of the most important and popular Asian fruits. Cultivation ofMangoes is deeply embedded in Indian history. Mangoes are mentioned in early Arialkrit literature. Mangoes are widely available year-round, as fresh fruit and in frozenandprocessedfoods.Mangoesthriveintropical regions, and are cultivated throughoutIndia and even in home yards, along field boundaries and roadside avenues.

It is believed that Mangoes originated in northeast India, northwestern Myanmar and Bangladesh. They, later spread to the rest of Asia by themselves and with the help of humans.They have been cultivated, praised and revered since ancient times.

Economic Importance of Mango

The fruit is very popular with the masses due to its wide range of adaptability, high nutritive value, richness in variety, delicious taste and excellent flavour. The fruit is consumed in both forms raw and ripe.

Raw fruits of local varieties of Mango trees are used for preparing various traditional products like raw slices in brine, amchur, pickle, murabba, chutney, panhe (sharabat) etc. Raw fruit of local varieties of Mango are used for preparing pickle and raw slices in brine on commercial scale while fruits of Alphonso variety are used for squash.

The wood is used as timber, and dried twigs are used for religious purposes. Mango kernel also contains about 8-10% good quality fat, which can be used for saponification. Its starch is used in confectionery industry.

Mango also has medicinal uses. The ripe fruit has fattening, diuretic and laxative properties. It helps to increase digestive capacity.

Major Mango producing countries

Mango is commercially grown in more than 80 countries. Main Mango producing countries are Brazil, China, Egypt,India, Indonesia, Mexico, Pakistan, Phillipines, Thialand and Vietnam .

Major Mango producing states in India

Mango is grown in India in tropical and subtropical regions from sea to an altitude of 1500 meters. It is grown almost in all states of India. However, it is mainly cultivated in, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Gujarat, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, Orissa, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal.

Important Banana Producing States and Districts

Andhra Pradesh

Krishna, East and West Godavari, Vishakhapatnam, Srikakulam, Chittoor, Adilabad, Khamman, Vijaynagar

Chhattisgarh

Raipur, Bastar

Gujarat

Bhavnagar, Surat, Valsad, Junagarh, Mehsana, Khera

Haryana

Karnal, Kurushetra

Jammu & Kashmir

Jammu, Kathwa, Udhampur

Jharkhand

Ranchi, Sindega, Gumla, Hazaribagh, Dumka, Sahibganj, Godda.

Karnataka

Kolar, Bangalore, Tumkur, Kagu

Kerala

Kannur, Palakkad, Trissur, Malappuram

Madhya Pradesh

Rewa, Satna, Durg, Bilaspur, Bastar, Ramnandgaon, Rajgari, Jabalpur, Katni, Balagha

Maharashtra

Ratnagiri, Sindhudurg, Raigarh

Orissa

Sonepur, Bolangir, Gajapati, Koraput, Rayagada, Gunpur, Malkanpuri, Dhenkanal, Ganjam, Puri

Punjab

Gurdaspur, Hoshiarpur, Ropar

Tamil Nadu

Dharmapuri, Vellore, Tiruvallur, Theni, Madurai

Uttaranchal

Almora, Nainital, Dehradun, Bageshwar, UdhamSingh Nagar, Haridwar

Uttar Pradesh

Saharanpur, Bulandshahar, Lucknow, Faizabad, Varanas

West Bengal

Malda, Murshidabad, Nadia

Characteristics of important Indian Mango varieties

Alphonso (Happus)

Fruit is medium in size, ovate oblique in shape, orange yellow in colour. Juice is moderate-abundant, excellent keeping quality, good for pulping and canning. Mainly exported as fresh fruit. Flesh develops spongy tissue.

Bangalora (Totapuri)

The fruit is medium-large, oblong shaped with pointed base with golden yellow colour. Good keeping quality; used for processing; heavy and regular bears variety, Susceptible to bacterial spot.

Banganapalli (Baneshan, Safeda)

Fruit is large sized, obliquely oval in shape, golden yellow in colour, good keeping quality, and good for canning, biennial in habit. Variety suited for dry areas

Bombai (Malda)

Variety is alternate bearer. Fruit is medium, ovate and yellow in colour. Keeping quality is medium.

Bombay Green

Fruit size is medium, shape ovate oblong with spinach green colour. Keeping quality is medium. Early seasoning variety. Biennial in habit highly susceptible to both vegetative and floral malformation.

Dashehari

Best varieties of the country. Fruit size is small-medium, shape is elongated with yellow fruit colour. Flesh is fibreless. Good keeping quality. Mainly used for table purpose.

Fernandin

Fruit shape is oval to obliquely oval and yellow in colour with a blush of red on shoulders. Medium keeping quality. Mostly used for table purpose.

Himsagar

Fruit is medium sized ovate fruit with yellow colour. Good keeping quality. Early season variety and mostly used for table purpose.

Fajri

Fruit is very large, obliquely oval in shape. Fruit colour is light chrome. Fruit quality and keeping quality are medium. This is a late season variety.

Kesar

Fruit is medium oblong with a red blush on the shoulders. Good keeping quality. Ideal for pulping and juice concentrates. Early season variety.

Kishen Bhog

Fruit is medium oval oblique with yellow colour. Keeping quality is good. Bearing heavy.

Langra

Fruit is medium, ovate in shape with lettuce green colour. Poor keeping quality. Skin is very thin and pulp is very sweet. Alternate bearing variety mostly used for table purpose.

Mankur

The variety develops black spots on the skin in rainy season. Fruit is medium ovate and yellow in colour. Fruit quality is very good but keeping quality is poor.

Mulgoa

Fruit is large roundish-oblique in shape and yellow in colour. High fruit quality and good keeping quality.

Neelum

Fruit is medium ovate-oblique in shape and saffron yellow in colour. Good keeping quality. High yielding and regular bearing. Ideal variety for transporting to distant places. This variety is mostly used for table purpose.

Chausa

Fruit is large, ovate to oval oblique in shape and light yellow in colour. Flesh is fibrous. Medium keeping quality. Extremely sweet in taste. Alternate bearing variety. It is mostly grown for table and processing purposes.

Suvernarekha

Fruit is medium ovate oblong fruit, green in colour with prominent red blush on the shoulders. Good keeping quality. Bearing is heavy.

Vanraj

Fruit is medium, ovate oblong in shape with a blush of jasper red on the shoulders; good keeping quality.

Zardalu

Fruit size is medium, oblong to obliquely oblong and golden yellow in colour. Fruit quality is very good. Keeping quality is medium. It is a mid season variety.

Hybrid Mango Varieties:

Malika (Neelum X Dashehari)

Fruit is large, oblong elliptical yellow in colour. Keeping quality is good and is mostly used for table purpose

Amrapali (Dashehari X Neelum)

Dwarf, regular bearing and late maturing variety. Suitable for high density planting. Flesh is fibreless. Average yield.

Ratna (Neelum X Alphonso)

Tree moderately vigorous, precocious. Fruits are medium sized, attractive in colour and free from spongy tissue

Sindhu (Ratna back-crossed with Alphonso)

Fruits are medium sized, fibreless, free from spongy tissue with high pulp to stone ratio and very thin and small stone.

Arka Aruna (Banganapalli X Alphonso)

Plants are dwarf regular bearing. Fruit is oblong and skin are thin, rough and dull yellow in colour with slight red blush. Pulp is soft, pale yellow in colour. Free from spongy tissue and fiber. The keeping quality is moderate and is mostly used for table purpose.

Arka Neelkiran (Alphoso x Neelum)

Tree is semi-vigorous in nature. Fruit is elliptical, medium size golden yellow in colour, average weight 270-280g. Free from fiber and spongy tissue. Keeping quality is good.

Arka Puneet (Alphoso x Banganpalli)

It is a hybrid between Alphonso and Banganpalli. It is regular and prolific bearer. Fruits are medium sized having attractive skin colour with red blush and free from spongy tissue. Excellent keeping quality.

Arka Anmol (Alphoso x Janardhan Pasand)

This hybrid is from a cross of Alphonso and Janardhan Pasand. It is regular bearer and good yielder. Fruits are medium sized having uniform yellow peel colour, excellent keeping quality and free from spongy tissue.

Au Rumani (Rumani x Mulgoa)

It is from a cross of Rumani and Mulgoa. It is precocious, heavy and regular bearing with large fruits having yellow cadmium skin colour.

Manjeera (Rumani x Neelum)

This hybrid is from a cross of Rumani and Neelum. It is dwarf, regular and prolific bearer with firm and fibre less flesh.

Some of the other hybrid varieties are Alfazali, Sundar Langra, Sabri, Jawahar, Neelphonso, Neeleshan, Neeleshwari and PKM2.

Some of the most popular mangos varieties, grown in the world:

Kent mango

The fruit is a regular oval shape, large 20 - 26 ounces, with plump cheeks, greenish-yellow color with red shoulder. Very rich and sweet with fiber-free flesh (slices clean to the pit - like butter when ripe!)

Tommy Atkins mango

Mango cultivar is developed and grown for commercial export. The fruit is a regular oval, medium to large sized, 12 to 24 ounces, yellowish-orange with deep red to purple blush, thicker skinned, juicy but firm with medium fiber.

Haden Mango

The fruit is a regular oval, large, 16 - 24 ounces, yellow almost entirely washed over with an orange-red color, mild in flavor with a small amount of fiber

Ataulfo Mango

Indonesian type - originated from a Hawaiian seedling strain, direct descendant of the Manila mango seedling race common in Veracruz State, Mexico. - The fruit is a small, flat, oblong shape, 6 - 12 ounces, greenish yellow to deep golden when ripe; delicious, very sweet, rich in flavor and close to fiber free.

Keitt

Indian strain thought to have originated, like the Haden, from a seedling of Mulgoba 1945, Homestead, Florida. The fruit is a large (20-26 oz.) ovate tapering with slight nose-like protuberance above its tip. Green to orange-yellow as it ripens; firm flesh with a piney sweetness and minimal fiber surrounding the seed area. It is a late fruiting mango, often available into fall.