Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
control and minimum pruning, limited to removal of dead, badly conformed or
broken branches. It was not until the onset of cultivation of this crop in subtropical
areas that special attention was given to mango cultural techniques. Israel was the
place in which control of irrigation, nutrition and flowering (see reproductive biolo-
gy below) was developed and practiced, while in South Africa work was focused on
pruning techniques and control of orchard density to the point of making success-
ful high density plantings. Due to the strong stimulus of low winter temperatures
there is practically not juvenile phase for the mango tree in subtropical climates be-
ing mandatory to avoid or remove all flowers produced during the training period,
which can last between 2 and 4 years depending on cultivars and climatic condi-
tions. The control of the erratic flowering of mango is one of the main objectives of
mango cultivation. Since the age of the last flush is a critical factor for regulating
floral induction (see reproductive biology) it is of importance that cultural tech-
niques like irrigation and nutrition be orientated towards avoiding shoot initiation
before the resting terminals are mature enough to induce flowering.
The management of the mango crop has been discussed in some of the litera-
ture mentioned already above but specific references are provided for nutrition and
irrigation (Crane et al.
2009
; Bally
2009
), pruning (Fivaz and Grové
1998
) and man-
agement of high density plantings (Oosthuyse
2005
,
2009
). It is also important to men-
tion that with the application of all these techniques, mango production has steadily
increased from less than the 10 t/ha, which is common in most producing countries, to
average yields in the range of 22.5 t/ha in Israel (Homsky
1997
) or even to exceptional
yields of 35 t/ha in high density commercial orchards (Oosthuyse
2009
).
Reproductive Biology
Although most mango topics and publications refer to the inflorescence as a pani-
cle, the mango terminal inflorescence is a composed thirsoid (Coetzer et al.
1995
)
formed by a primary axis that ramifies either in the secondary and tertiary flower
bud, but seldom in the quaternary, axis or directly in 3 flower buds. The mango
is a monoic plant but presents in the same thyrsoid both hermaphrodite and male
flowers. The number of flowers and the ratio of hermaphrodite to-male flowers
changes in relation to temperature and cultivar, climatic conditions, location on the
tree, and the level of tree productivity (Singh
1963
; Galán Saúco et al.
1984
).
The mango is a branching species in which the vegetative and reproductive
phases are separated in time for each terminal, but not necessarily so for the
whole tree. Although flowering in mango is mainly terminal, profuse cauliflory
flowering has been reported in the older buds of mango following 'window prun-
ing' of mature trees (Galán Saúco
2009
). The mechanisms that control the mor-
phogenic development of mango meristems, which ultimately express flowering,
are largely determined by temperature and to a minor extent by water stress.
Whereas the role of low temperatures in inducing flowers has been well estab-
lished, the action of water stress in mango flowering is not clear. According to
