Evaluation and Analysis of Local Mango (Mangifera indica L.) Landraces

Abstract

India is the largest producer of choicest table varieties of mango in the world, and wide variability has been found in fruit shape, size and taste, but commercial importance is given to nearly about 30 mango cultivars in the country. An attempt was made to study characterization and evaluation in mango. In the present investigation, one hundred genotypes of mango were selected and coded with location-wise abbreviation. Among the identified genotypes, twenty-five elite promising mango accessions were selected on the basis of desirable horticultural traits for final evaluation in a randomized block design (RBD) with three replications.  Observations were recorded on various morphological parameters. The obtained data was applied to a Principal Component Analysis (PCA) using R software, and the packages HSAUR and Hmisc. Maximum fruit weight (200.00 g) and fruit breadth (7.50 cm) was recorded in AKS-1 and fruit length (10.90 cm) in AA-7 genotype, whereas, minimum values of these characteristics i.e. 80.10g fruit weight was noted in genotype AP-1 and 5.50 cm fruit length and 4.10 cm fruit breadth was noted in genotype AR-1. Maximum pulp percentage was recorded (64.00%) in genotype AA-7 and minimum in AKCA-14 (55.26%), however, maximum pulp: stone ratio (7.04) was noted in genotype AKCA-14 and minimum (1.99) in AGKB-64. Fruits with thickest peel (2.19 mm) were harvested from genotype AA-7 and with minimum peel thickness from genotype AP-1 (0.30 mm). Maximum specific gravity (1.12) was observed in genotype AA-2 and minimum in genotype AA-39 (1.00). Maximum stone weight, length and breadth i.e. 52.86g, 9.00 cm and 6.10 cm was recorded in genotypes AA-19, AA-7 and AA-3. Whereas, minimum stone weight (10.00 g), length (4.70 cm) and breadth (2.96 cm) was noted in AKCA-14, AP-1 and GQ-3 genotypes. The heaviest seed (25.10g) was found in genotype AA-19 and the minimum seed weight was recorded in genotype AP-1 (5.10g). Seed length and width were maximum in ABG-1 (5.83 cm) and AA-9 (4.15 cm) genotypes. Minimum seed length and width was recorded in genotypes AP-1 (3.00 cm) and GQ-3 (1.92 cm). The information was compared with similar information for Indian landraces of Mangoes. It was concluded that the germplasm with desirable traits can be proved to be good genetic material for the utilization in future breeding programmes for improving the mango varieties in Punjab or South America. Genotypes AKS-1 and AA-19 were excellent in terms of fruit weight. Hence, it can be included for future systematic breeding as well as hybridization programme of mango to inculcate and/or concentrate favourable attributes among the improved progenies.