CLIMATIC ADAPTABILITY/ REQUIREMENTS OF MANGO

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CLIMATIC ADAPTABILITY/ REQUIREMENTS OF MANGO
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• Mango grows on wide range of soils, such as
  lateritic, alluvial, sandy and sandy loam.
• Although it grows well in high to medium fertile
  soils, its cultivation can be made successful
  even in low fertile soils by appropriate nutrient
  management especially during early stages of
  growth.
• Establishment is found to be poor in stony soils
  on hill slopes.
• The loamy, alluvial, well drained, aerated and
  deep soils rich in organic matter with a pH range
  of 5.5 to 7.5 and a water table below 180 cm are
  most suitable for mango cultivation.
• The extremely sandy, shallow, rocky,
  water-logged, heavy textured and alkaline or
  calcareous soils are not suitable for mango
  cultivation.
• The optimum nutrient levels in soil needed for
  mango cultivation are as follows

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The optimum nutrient levels in soil needed for
mango cultivation are as follows
Properties Optimum levels EC lt 1 dSm -1 pH 6.5 - 7.0 P 70 mg/kg K 100 -150 mg/kg Ca 600 -1000 mg/kg Mg 90 -150 mg/kg N 100 mg/kg S 10 -20 mg/kg Zn 2 -10 mg/kg B 1-2 mg/kg
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Mango is sensitive to problem soils. The
problem soils are broadly classified into acidic
and base rich soils which include saline and
alkali types. Saline soils are rich in soluble
salts like sodium chloride, sodium sulphate
etc. However, soils rich in carbonate and
bicarbonate ions are of alkali types. Mango
performs best in slightly acid soils of red
lateritic nature.
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CLIMATE
Mango is very well adapted to tropical and
subtropical climate. It thrives up to an
altitude of 1400 m above mean sea level but
fruiting is poor beyond 500 m. It thrives well
from Kanyakumari in Southern India to sub
mountainous regions in the North. The annual
mean temperature at which mango thrives best is
around 26.7oC. The optimum temperature for
mango is 23.9 to 26.7 0C. The prevailing
temperature affects the expression of sex in
mango i.e., a close association appears between
high temperature and increased percentage of
perfect flowers and vice versa.
(Cont)
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• High temperature by itself is not so
  injurious to mango, but in combination with low
  humidity and high winds affects the growth of the
  trees adversely.
• Mango thrives in places with good rainfall
  (75 to 375 cm per annum) and dry season.
• The distribution of rainfall is more
  important than quantity of the rainfall.
• A dry weather before blossoming is conducive
  for profuse flowering.
• Rain during flowering washes away the
  pollens, which adversely affects the fruit set,
  and also encourages greater incidence of mango
  hoppers, mealy bugs and diseases like powdery
  mildew and anthracnose that can damage the crop
  completely.

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Cloudy weather with increased humidity in the
atmosphere encourages the incidence of pests and
diseases and interferes with the activity of
pollinating insects, thus adversely affecting
fruit set. In areas of excessive rainfall and
high humidity, even during the time of fruit
maturity, commercial mango growing may not be
profitable due to the attack of fruit fly.
If high temperature, rainfall and humidity
persist throughout the year, there will not be
any distinct phases of vegetative and flowering
in the mango tree thus resulting into poor flower
production and fruit set. Temperature, also
governs the flowering and ripening of fruits.
In Kanyakumari, some of the varieties flower and
fruit twice a year, known as off season bearing
which is primarily conditioned by the differences
in night and day temperatures and humidity.
Strong winds and cyclones during the fruiting
season can play havoc as they cause excessive
fruit drop. Hot winds during summer have an
adverse effect both on fruit and foliage
growth.
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Assessment
1) pH range for mango cultivation a)5.5
to 7.5 b). 8.0 to 8.5 c). 6.0 to
7.0 2) Mango is sensitive to problem soils
(True or False) 3) Mango varieties __________
and __________ tolerant to salt in irrigation
water a). Alphonao and Banganapalli b).
Nellum and Fazli c). Bappakai and Olour 4)
The optimum temperature for mango cultivation
a). 15 - 20C b). 34.1 - 38C
c). 23.9 26.7C 5) Hot winds during
summer have an adverse effect on fruit and
foliage (True or False).
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References

• Bose. T. K., S. K. Mitra.1990.Fruits tropical
  and subtropica.PublisherNaya Prokash,. 57 p.
• Gangolly, S. R. 1957. The Mango. New Delhi,
  Indian Council of Agriculture Research.
• Radha .T. Lila Mathew 2007. Fruit Crops
  Vol.03. Horticulture Science Series. New India
  Publishing. 221p
• Samson, J. A. 1986. Tropical Fruits. 2nd ed.
  Longman Scientific and Technical. pp. 216-234

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