The Challenge of Mango Breeding

Abstract

The mango is a lucrative and highly esteemed crop in every country where it is grown from India to the United States. Although man has bee cultivating mangos for over 4,000 years little work has been done in the area of genetic improvement. This is not to say that the mango is not in need of horticultural improvement. To the contrary, there is a great deal of work awaiting the enthusiastic plant breeder. As with most fruit crops there is always the need for fruit of higher quality with good storage and shipping characteristics, cultivars which fruit early or late in the season to extend the period of marketing and of course disease and insect resistance is always desirable. Other problems encountered in mango cultivation are extreme alternate bearing in many cultivars, mateness to come into bearing (8 to 10 years from seed), large tree size which hinders harvesting and other cultural operations, poor fruit set especially in wet weather and a marked sensitivity to cold temperatures.