Origin,Distribution, History,Classification

,Importance and Botany of Mango

Vijayalaxmi.MRHM/08-23

Taxonomical position Division: Magnoliophyta Class: Magnoliopsida Sub class: Rosidae Order: Sapindales Family: Anacardiaceae Genus : Mangifera Species: indica 2n = 40

• The family contains 73 genera and about 600-700 species.

• Mangifera contains about 30 species of which up to 15 species produce edible fruit including the water mango M. laurina, and M. sylvatica, the wild.

Origin

• Historical records and palaeobotanical evidences provide ample proof about its origin in the Indo-Burma-Malay region.

• Mukharjee concluded that occurance of wild form of Mangifera indica and its allied species and presence of numerous cultivated and wild varieties in India were some of the major reasons in favour of Mango having originated in Indo-Burma region.

Origin contd..

• On the basis of presence of maximum number of allied species growing in malaysia, some workers are lead to believe that Malaysian region is the original home of Mango.

• But Vavilov (1926) supported that mango is originated in Indo-Burma region.

Distribution

• Through the ages man has been the prime promoter for the spread of the mango.

• In olden days missionaries, explorers, travelers lured by the fruit have been singularly responsible for its far and wide distribution.

Distribution contd..

• Hwen chang a Chinese traveler who visited India between 632AD-645AD, was the first person to make Mango to out side world.

• The mango introduced to new world, was the deliberate attempt on the part of Portuguese who spread mango for commercial purpose.

• According Singh (1988) mango had become established in Somaliland on the eastern coast of Africa before 1331.

Distribution contd..

• By the 16th century it reached the Persian Gulf .

• By 1960 it grown under Glasshouse in England.

• It also reached Yemen in later half of 17th century.

• It was taken to South Africa and Brazil from India by Portuguese in the early 18th centuty, then to Barbados in 1742 and also to the other places in West Indies.

Distribution contd..• It reached Mexico before 1778 and from there it reached

Florida between 1835 and 1862.

• It reached Hawaii islands in about 1865 and queensland in Australia in about 1870.

• Presently besides India it is being cultivated in Pakistan, Bangladseh,, Burma, Srilanka, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonasia, Fiji Islands, Kenya, Nigeria, U.S.A, Brazil, Australia, West Indies etc..

History • It is one of the ancient fruits of India.

• mango has been cultivated, praised and even revered

in its homeland since ancient times.

• Written records suggest that it has been under cultivation in this country for the past 4000years.

History contd..• No other tree has received this much attention in

our religion than mango.

• Mango is part and parcel of cultural heritage of India.

• In Valmiki’s Ramayana, mango fruit and trees are described in many places.

History contd..• Its prominence in Hindu mythology and religious

observance leaves no doubt as to its antiquity.

• Its economic importance in ancient times is suggested by one of the Sanskrit names, am, which has an alternative meaning of provisions or victuals.

History contd..• Akbar, the Mughal emperor who reigned in northern India

from 1556 to 1605, planted near Darbhanga the Lakh Bagh, an orchard of a hundred thousand mango trees.

• India in 1800’s Mango is the natural fruit of India known as the king of fruits and is the choicest fruit in India and abroad.

• The cultivated mango is probably a natural hybrid between M.idica and M. sylvatica that occurred in Southeastern

Asia to India.

History contd..

• The word mango comes from the portuguese manga, which is probably derived from the Malayalam (manga).

• The name mangifera was given first time by Botinus in 1658, where he referred to this as arbor Mangifera (the tree producing mango).

• Linnaaeus also referred it as Mangifera arbor in 1747 prior to changing the name to its present form Mangifera indica in 1753.

Classification

Mango has been horticulturally classified in various ways which are as follows

I. vigour of the tree:

On the basis of their growth habit,

Dwarf plants - 4 to 5 m height.

vigorous plant - 10 to 12 m height.

Semi dwarf - In between these two.

Classification contd..

II. Availability of mature fruit:

a. Early varieties: Bangalora and Banganpally in south indian condition.

Zardalu, Bombay, Ranipasand and Gulabkhas.

b. Mid season varieties: Langra, Dashehari and khasulkhas.

c. Late season varieties: Fazli, Chausa, Amrapali, Neelum etc.

Classification contd.. III. Fibre content of fruit:

Fibrous varieties - Sukul, Baramasi.

Fibre less - Langra, Dashehari, Zardalu, Amrapali.

IV. Shape of the fruit: Round, long and indefinite.

V. Firmness of the pulp:

Soft pulp – Langra, Dashehari.

Firm pulp – Bangalora, Mallika, Alphonso.

Loose pulp- Sukul, Baramasia etc.

Importance Religious and Socio-cultural:

• It has been described as Kalpa-vriksha – a wish granting tree.

• Various parts including leaves, flowers, wood are indispensable for various religions ceremonies.

• Use of festoons of mango leaves for decoration, dry twigs for Homa are some of the examples of religious sanctity accorded to this tree.

Importance contd..

Medicinal: 

• Bark: The bark contains mangiferine and is astringent and employed

against rheumatism and diphtheria in India. •  Resin: Used for cracked feet, ringworm, and other fungi, syphilis, and to induce sweating.

•  Smoke from the burning leaves: Cures various throat disorders, from asthma to hiccups.

Importance contd..

• Dried flowers: Used to treat gleet.

• Green fruits Anticholeric, antiscorbutic, astringent, and diaphoretic.

•  Ripe fruits: Diuretic, laxative and the gum is used to treat scabies; the seeds

are anthelmintic, antidysesnteric.

•  Seeds: Gruel made of the seeds is taken internally for bleeding piles.

Importance contd..

Nutritional: • On ripening mango fruits become rich source of

carbohydrates.

• They have low fat, saturated fat free, cholesterol free.

• carbohydrates    17.00 g- • Sugars   14.8 g- • Dietary fiber   1.8 g • Fat 0.27 g• Protein 51 g• Vitamin A equiv. 38 μg 4%-• VitaminC   27.7 mg46%

Importance contd.. Other uses:

• Seed kernels - After soaking and drying to 10% moisrure content, the kernels are fed to poultry and cattle.

• Seed fat –High stearic acid - the fat is desirable for soap-making. the seed residue after fat extraction is usable for cattle feed and soil enrichment.

• Gum - A somewhat resinnous, red-brown gum from the trunk is used for mending crockery in tropical Africa. In India, it is sold as a substitute for gum arabic.

Importance contd..

• Bark- The bark possesses 16% to 20% tannin and has been employed for tanning hides. It yields a yellow dye.

• An extract of mango branch bark called Vimang, contains numerous polyphenols with antioxidant properties invitro.

• Peel and leaves also have significant content of polyphenols, including xanthones, mangiferin and gallic acid.

• The mango tree is evergreen, reach to a height of 35–40 m with a crown radius of 10 m. It can live well over 100years.

• Bark is usually dark grey-brown to black, rather smooth, inconspicuously fissured, peeling off in irregular rather thick pieces.

• The leaves are evergreen, alternate, simple, lanceolate, rigid, almost glossy, 15–35 cm long and 6–16 cm broad.

• The young leaves are usually reddish or coppery and often hang limply from the ends of the branchlets.

Botany

Botany contd..

Inflorescence

• The mango inflorescence is a branched terminal panicle, 4 to 24 inches long.

• The number of panicles may range from 200 to 3,000 per tree with 500 to 10,000 flowers per panicle.

• There are perfect and staminate flowers on the same panicle. The proportion may vary from 1:4 to 2:1.

• Both flowers have one, two or even three, functional stamens and several sterile staminodes.

Botany contd..

• There are usually five greenish-yellow sepals, five cream-colored petals for staminate flower.

• In the perfect or hermaphrodite flower, a nectar-secreting fleshy disk surrounds the ovary.

• The stamen is on the outer margin of this disk.

• Pollinating insects that feed on either nectar or pollen are likely to transfer pollen from the anther to the stigma.

Botany contd..

• Fruit set is generally just a few percent, with an average of only one mango borne per panicle.

• Mangos are large drupes.

• The fruit takes from three to six months to ripen.

Botany contd..

• The ripe fruit is variable in size and color, and may be yellow, orange, red or green when ripe, depending on the cultivar.

• The large, flattened, kidney-shaped central stone contains one or more large, starchy embryos, and can constitute up to 20% of fruit weight.