Mango production in India

Mango, the most important fruit of India, is grown in 1.23 million ha with an annual production of 10.99 million tones, which accounts for 57.18 percent of the total world production. It is grown in tropical and subtropical regions of the country. Out of nearly 1000 mango cultivars existing in the country, only about 20 cultivars are grown commercially. New cultivars like Amrapali, Mallika, Arka Puneet, Arka Anmol, Ratna, sindhu, Mangeera and a regular bearing and high yielding clone Dashehari-51 have been developed and released for commercial cultivation. Inarching, veneer grafting and stone grafting are the popular methods of propagation. Random seedling rootstocks are used for multiplication of cultivars. Planting at a distance of 10-12 m continues to be common practice, but high density plantings have increased productivity. Though surface irrigation is commonly practiced, use of drip irrigation is increasing in the areas with limited water resources. Intercropping in mango is practiced in the pre-bearing stage. Leaf nutrient guides are being developed. Use of paclobutrazol has solved the problem of alternate bearing in commercial cultivars and is being used at commercial scale. Rejuvenation of old and unproductive trees by pruning of IV order branches has been found successful. Malformation and spongy tissue are the disorders reducing the yield and quality of fruits. Hoppers, mealy bug, inflorescence midge, shoot gall psylla, leaf webber, fruitfly and stone weevil are the key pests. Powdery mildew, anthracnose, dieback, sooty mould, phoma blight and bacterial canker are the widespread preharvest diseases, while anthracnose, stem end rot and black rot are important postharvest diseases. Control methods of these pests and diseases have been worked out. Generally, fruits are hand picked. Low cost harvesters have been developed in different parts of the country. Grading is done based on weight and size of fruits. Baskets and wooden boxes are used for packaging. Recently, CFB boxes have been developed from cotton stalks and sugarcane baggase. Fruits are mostly stored at room temperature for 6 to 14 days. Precooling and low temperature storage studies have given encouraging results. Truck has been adopted as the most convenient mode of transport from orchards to markets. A small quantity of fruits is also lifted by air for export. A large number of products are made from unripe and ripe fruits. However, only mango pulp, pickle, chutney and juice are the products exported from India.