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Mango grows on wide range of soils, such as lateritic, alluvial, sandy and sandy loam.

Although it grows well in high to medium fertile soils, its cultivation can be made successful even in low fertile soils by appropriate nutrient management especially during early stages of growth.

Establishment is found to be poor in stony soils on hill slopes.

The loamy, alluvial, well drained, aerated and deep soils rich in organic matter with a pH range of 5.5 to 7.5 and a water table below 180 cm are most suitable for mango cultivation.

The extremely sandy, shallow, rocky, water-logged, heavy textured and alkaline or calcareous soils are not suitable for mango cultivation.

The optimum nutrient levels in soil needed for mango cultivation are as follows:

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The optimum nutrient levels in soil needed for mango cultivation are as follows:

Properties Optimum levelsEC : < 1 dSm -1pH : 6.5 - 7.0P : 70 mg/kgK : 100 -150 mg/kgCa : 600 -1000 mg/kgMg : 90 -150 mg/kgN : 100 mg/kgS : 10 -20 mg/kgZn : 2 -10 mg/kgB : 1-2 mg/kg

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Mango is sensitive to problem soils.

The problem soils are broadly classified into acidic and base rich soilswhich include saline and alkali types.

Saline soils are rich in soluble salts like sodium chloride, sodiumsulphate etc.

However, soils rich in carbonate and bicarbonate ions are of alkalitypes.

Mango performs best in slightly acid soils of red lateritic nature.

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Mango is very well adapted to tropical and subtropical climate.

It thrives up to an altitude of 1400 m above mean sea level but fruiting is poor beyond 500 m.

It thrives well from Kanyakumari in Southern India to sub mountainous regions in the North.

The annual mean temperature at which mango thrives best is around 26.7oC.

The optimum temperature for mango is 23.9 to 26.7 0C.

The prevailing temperature affects the expression of sex in mango i.e., a close association appears between high temperature and increased percentage of perfect flowers and vice versa.

CLIMATE

(Cont)…

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High temperature by itself is not so injurious to mango, but in combination with low humidity and high winds affects the growth of the trees adversely.

Mango thrives in places with good rainfall (75 to 375 cm per annum) and dry season.

The distribution of rainfall is more important than quantity of the rainfall.

A dry weather before blossoming is conducive for profuse flowering.

Rain during flowering washes away the pollens, which adversely affects the fruit set, and also encourages greater incidence of mango hoppers, mealy bugs and diseases like powdery mildew and anthracnose that can damage the crop completely.

Cloudy weather with increased humidity in the atmosphere encourages the incidence of pests and diseases and interferes with the activity of pollinating insects, thus adversely affecting fruit set.

In areas of excessive rainfall and high humidity, even during the time of fruit maturity, commercial mango growing may not be profitable due to the attack of fruit fly.

If high temperature, rainfall and humidity persist throughout the year, there will not be any distinct phases of vegetative and flowering in the mango tree thus resulting into poor flower production and fruit set. Temperature, also governs the flowering and ripening of fruits.

In Kanyakumari, some of the varieties flower and fruit twice a year, known as “off season bearing” which is primarily conditioned by the differences in night and day temperatures and humidity.

Strong winds and cyclones during the fruiting season can play havoc as they cause excessive fruit drop. Hot winds during summer have an adverse effect both on fruit and foliage growth.

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Assessment:

1) pH range for mango cultivation a)5.5 to 7.5 b). 8.0 to 8.5 c). 6.0 to 7.0

2) Mango is sensitive to problem soils (True or False)

3) Mango varieties __________ and __________ tolerant to salt in irrigation water a). Alphonao and Banganapalli b). Nellum and Fazli c). Bappakai and Olour

4) The optimum temperature for mango cultivation a). 15 - 20°C b). 34.1 - 38°C c). 23.9 – 26.7°C 5) Hot winds during summer have an adverse effect on fruit and foliage (True or False).

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References

Bose. T. K., S. K. Mitra.1990.Fruits: tropical and

subtropica.PublisherNaya Prokash,. 57 p.

Gangolly, S. R. 1957. The Mango. New Delhi, Indian

Council of Agriculture Research.

Radha .T. & Lila Mathew 2007. Fruit Crops: Vol.03.

Horticulture Science Series. New India Publishing. 221p

Samson, J. A. 1986. Tropical Fruits. 2nd ed. Longman

Scientific and Technical. pp. 216-234