Morphological and biochemical characterization of mango (Mangifera indica L.) genotypes under high density planting system

Abstract

Experiment on evaluation of mango genotypes under high density planting system was conducted in six mango varieties of the same age group (5 years). The observation on tree characters indicated that the trunk circumference ranged from 20.51 cm (Prior) to 31.29 cm (Chandrakaran) and crown diameter ranged from 2.39 m (Ratna) to 3.09 m (Vellaikolumban). The qualitative data on morphological characters viz., tree, leaf, inflorescence, fruit, stone and seed characters were grouped into clusters based on the IPGRI descriptor. The observation on leaf characters revealed that the leaf blade length varied from 19.17 cm (Muvandan) to 25.40 cm (Ratna), leaf blade width ranged from 4.84 cm (Muvandan) to 7.68 cm (Vellaikolumban) and leaf petiole length varied from 2.29 cm (Chandrakaran) to 4.18 cm (Vellaikolumban). Based on the inflorescence characters studied, it was found that inflorescence length varied from 22.14 cm (Prior) to 36.47 cm (Vellaikolumban), hermaphrodite flowers ranged from 33.40% (Muvandan) to 85.80% (Chandrakaran) and number of stamens varied from 3 to 4. The observation on fruit characters revealed that the fruit length varied from 7.49 cm (Chandrakaran) to 18.71 cm (Mallika), fruit diameter ranged from 13.18 cm (Chandrakaran) to 25.25 cm (Mallika), fruit weight ranged from 8.93 g (Muvandan) to 24.69 g (Mallika), yield per tree ranged from 8.93 kg/tree (Muvandan) to 24.69 kg/tree (Mallika), and shelf life of fruits varied from 4 to 6 days. The observations on stone and seed characters revealed that Chandrakaran recorded the lowest stone length (5.58 cm), stone width (3.36 cm), stone thickness (1.23 cm), stone weight (17.79 g) and seed length (4.05 cm). The lowest seed width and seed weight was recorded by Prior (3.07cm) and Vellaikolumban (9.44 cm). The highest stone length was recorded by Mallika (11.67 cm), stone width by Ratna (8.67 cm), stone thickness by Vellaikolumban (2.19 cm), stone weight by Mallika (44.33 g), seed weight by Prior (22.22 g) and seed length and width by Ratna (7.91 cm and 8.47 cm respectively). From the fruit analysis conducted for assessing the quality attributes of different mango genotypes grown under high density planting system TSS ranged from 14.78 o Brix (Muvandan), acidity varied from 0.02% (Mallika) to 0.07% (Muvandan), ascorbic acid varied from 28.26 mg 100g -1 (Vellaikolumban) to 79.68 mg 100g -1 (Chandrakaran), carotenoids ranged from 1.40 mg 100g -1 (Vellaikolumban) to 4.80 mg 100 g -1 (Ratna), and ß carotene ranged from 13.54 mg 100g -1 (Vellaikolumban) to 39.93 mg 100g -1 (Ratna). The results on sensory indicated that Ratna variety of mango as the best one as it recorded the highest rank for colour, flavour, sweetness, texture and taste, as Mallika recorded the highest rank only for appearance. Wide variability was observed for the vegetative, floral, fruit and biochemical characters among the mango genotypes.