Growth and Fruiting of Some Mango Cultivars under High Density Plantation in Arid Conditions of Gujarat (India)

A large scale pilot project on mango plantation of 102000 trees on 188 ha of land involving latest technologies has been established under arid Agroclimate at Jamnagar in Sourashtra region of Gujarat in India. High density planting of Kesar cultivar with 666 to 833 plants/ha was done from 1998 to 2003. In every tenth row, 14 other commercial Indian and exotic cultivars were planted as pollinizers. Five rows of casuarina along the periphery and at 250 m interval protects the plantation from high velocity winds from seaside. Entire mango plantation is under fertigation. Paclobutrazol is being applied from the 4th year of age. The growth, flowering and fruiting performance of entire mango plantation is being monitored and recorded. The flowering and fruiting has been excellent. Numerous honeybees and flies are observed during flowering leading to high fruit set. The mango hoppers and powdery mildew were totally absent during flowering. The data on growth, flowering and fruiting during the 6th year of age are presented and discussed. The growth of mango trees as judged from the height, girth, and the canopy volume was the maximum in exotic variety Maya followed by Tommy Atkins and indigenous cultivars Mallika, Pairi and Alphonso. The growth of Kesar was much less than other varieties. The cultivar Maya produced the maximum inflorescences followed by Mallika, Goa Mankur and Doodhpedha. However, the mango productivity per tree as well as per ha at the age of 7 years was the highest in Kesar (15.0 t/ha) followed by Totapuri (14.88 t/ha), Mallika (14.45 t/ha), Maya (14.11 t/ha) and Tommy Atkins (13.68 t/ha). The biggest (435 g) fruits were produced by Tommy Atkins followed by Mallika (422 g). The fruits of Kesar variety were of medium size (290 g). The fruits of Doodh Pedha were the sweetest (27.20 degrees Brix) followed by Goa Mankur (25.4 degrees Brix) and Ratna (24.6 degrees Brix). All the exotic varieties were comparatively less sweet. With such high productivity from the early age this unique and one of the biggest mango plantations in Asia is likely to revolutionize mango production and productivity in India.