Author: - Anant Kumar
Ramkrishna Mission Vivekanand Educational and Research Institute
, Ranchi
Mail: - anantsng24@gmail.com
MOB.: - 9110099459
Mango (Mangifera indicaL.) is major fruit crop and this fruit has developed its own significance all over the world. This fruit has been under cultivation in Indian sub-continent over 4000 years, and therefore is known as “National Fruit of India” due to its wide adaptability, excellent taste, nutritive value, richness in variety, attractive colour, exotic flavour, appearance and popularity among the rich as well as poor people. In many parts of the country mango serves as staple food for several months during the year because of its fine quality and taste as raw fruit. It is now recognized as one of the best fruits in the world market; hence it is called as the “King of the fruits”. The fruits of mango are utilized in both immature and mature stages. Raw fruits are used for making chutney, pickles and juices. The ripe fruits are also utilized for preparing several products like squashes, syrups, nectars, jams and jellies, etc. Unripe mangoes are sliced, dried and made into powder for amchoor, a traditional Indian preparation used for cooking. Seeds are also eaten during periods of food shortages. The bark is used in tanning leather, while timber is used for making boats, flooring, furniture and other applications. Besides delicious taste, excellent flavour and attractive fragrance, it is rich in vitamin A, B and C. The ripe fruit of mango contains about 15% sugars and up to 1% protein. Raw mango consists of about 81.7% water, 17% carbohydrate, 0.5% protein, 0.3% fat and 0.5% ash. Mangoes are thought to help stop bleeding, to strengthen the heart and to benefit the brain. Fresh mangoes and mango pulp are the important items of agricultural exports. The mango kernel contains 8-10 per cent good quality fat, which can be used for soap and also as a substitute for cola in confectionery.
Mango is produced in about 90 countries. However, the major mango producing countries in the world are India, China, Pakistan, Mexico, Thailand, Indonesia, Brazil, Philippines, Nigeria, and Vietnam. India is the front runner in area (44%) as well as production (38%) of fresh mango in the world. The world productivity of mango is 7.74 t ha-1, while India’s productivity is estimated to be around 6.92 t ha-1. In India, Uttar Pradesh stands at the top considering the area (31.57 M ha) under mango cultivation. The other important mango growing states are Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Bihar, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, West Bengal, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa and Kerala. Jharkhand accounts for 2.8% of the total production of Mango in the country. This state produces 0.43 M T of mango from an area of 0.04 M ha with productivity of 11 t ha-1, which is the second highest at par with Karnataka after Uttar Pradesh (Indian Horticulture Database, 2017).
The major biotic constrains that affect the production and quality of mango is mainly due to the incidence of about 400 insect pests (Tandon and Verghese, 1985; Pena and Mohyuddin, 1997). Among the various insect-pests, mango hopper, Amritodus atkinsoni, Idioscopus clypealis, Idioscopus niveoparsus, and Idioscopus notaulusis a serious pest of mango at the time of flowering and fruiting which causes 20 to 100% loss of the inflorescence and yield (Rahman and Kuldeep, 2007; Sohi and Sohi, 1990; Prabhakara et al., 2011). The activity of hopper coincides with initiation of inflorescence and new shoots in mango (Zagade and Chaudhari, 2010). Mango hoppers were found colonized during both vegetative and reproductive phases of the tree. Hoppers remain active throughout the year in cracks and crevices of mango trunk. Large number of nymphs and adults of the hoppers puncture tender shoots, inflorescences and leaves of mango tree and suck the sap. This causes non-setting of flowers and dropping of immature fruits, thereby reduction in the yield (Gunddapa et al., 2014). Hoppers also excrete honey dew which encourages the development of sooty mould on leaf surface which interferes with the normal photosynthetic activity of the plant. Though several natural enemies have been reported on mango hoppers, chemical control remains the widely followed means of hopper management (Babu and Singh, 2014). Several pesticides viz. Imidacloprid, Dimethoate, Dichlorovos, Acephate, Malathion, Emamectin benzoate, Thiamethoxam, Buprofezin, etc. have been tried to control the hoppers, but the extensive and indiscriminate use of these pesticides for hoppers in mango has led to several problems like resurgence of secondary pests, health hazards and pesticide residue on fruits. Hence, there is need to evaluate the organic management of hoppers through the use of bio-pesticides made from the plant extracts or microbial inoculations.
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