Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
5.2.1.4 SPATIO-TEMPORAL RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN
TEMPERATURE DYNAMICS AND PHENOLOGY AT SOME
IMPORTANT MANGO PRODUCING REGIONS
Meteorological observations at CISH, Rehmankhera indicated that fruit
development stages were vulnerable under high pan evaporation regimes
(>6 mm/day to 10 mm/day) particularly during the last week of March
and onwards. High pan evaporation values indicated higher rate of evapo-
transpiration resulting into drier soils with soil moisture stress develop-
ing silently within the soil and leading to abiotic stress complexes barring
water and nutrient flow through xylem. Thus protective irrigations are re-
quired as an intervention strategy so as to maintain optimum soil moisture
and leaf water potential in order to sustain fruit set, growth and develop-
ment and minimizing preharvest fruit drop unless otherwise this period
is intervened by unseasonal rains. Reports have indicated that mango is
drought tolerant, due its ability to maintain turgor through osmotic adjust-
ment attributable to the existence of lacticifer system. Mango, on the other
hand, exhibit some degree of flood tolerance though production of hyper-
trophied lenticels that facilitate increased O
2
absorption besides offering
sites for excretion of toxic by-products of anaerobic metabolism of roots
(Bruce Schaffer et al., 1994). Perhaps flooding tolerance of mango trees
in north Bihar could be explained to the above-mentioned phenomenon.
Precise understanding of these features however, is constrained by the lack
of quantitative data on water relations.
The vulnerability of mango to weather dynamics also emerged at some
other important mango growing parts of the country. A recurrent flowering
phenomenon, which has become common in the Konkan and Bangalore
regions for the past four yearsappears to be a consequence of weather im-
pacts which needs microanalysis with at least the Konkan case coming
under the influence of western disturbances occurring over the Arabian
sea. Meteorological data analysis at Bangalore indicated that T
Tmin
ranged
between 13 and 16 °C, on majority of the days during January 2013 being
14-15 °C, a critical period for flowering. In the first fortnight of Janu-
ary 2013, T
Tmin
ranged between 10-16 °C. Hence during January 2013,
attributable to this variation, flowering occurred in more than one flush,
termed '
recurrent flowering.'
.' This kind of phenomenon was also reported
in '
Kesar
' from Gujarat (
Personal communication
, 2013), which has led
to occurrence of different stages of fruit growth and development stages
