MANGO CULTIVARS AND HYBRIDS GROWN IN WEST BENGAL, INDIA

Mango is the most important fruit of West Bengal state occupying about 80.90 thousand hectares which is more than 41 per cent of total area under fruits. Numerous cultivars are grown in most of the districts of the state. We studied 115 mango cultivars and hybrids over the last ten years. 21 were tall in growing habit, 74 medium, 7 medium to tall, 4 dwarf to medium and 9 dwarf in nature. Apart from the hybrids ‘Amrapally’, ‘Mallika’, ‘Mehmud Bahar’ and ‘Prabha Shankar’ cultivars like ‘Anaras’, Anupam’, ‘Banganpalli’, ‘Begam Pasand’, ‘Bhaduri’, ‘Bhawani’, ‘Bimli’, ‘Dilpasand’, ‘Dophala Gol’, ‘Gopal Bhog’, ‘Gulabkhas’, ‘Jahanara’, ‘Ladoa’, ‘Neelum’, ‘Panja’, ‘Rani Pasand’, ‘Totapuri’, ‘Totapuri Red Small’ and ‘Zardalu’ were regular in bearing.
Marked variation in shape, size, colour and quality of the fruits were recorded among the 115 cultivars and hybrids studied. The fruits of ‘Gulabkhas’, ‘Khir Mohon’, ‘Saradamani Bhog’, ‘Bara Sindure’, ‘Sindure’ and ‘Totapuri Red Small’ showed attractive colouration (reddish, pinkish, or rosy base) at maturity.
The average individual fruit weight varies between 70.0 g (‘Subza’) to 768.8 g (‘Totapuri’) in different cultivars and hybrids studied. The fruits of 14 cultivars showed more than 19% Brix at maturity and it was recorded maximum (25.8% Brix) in ‘Bombai Siruli’. The fruits of ‘Fazli’, ‘Totapuri’, ‘Banganpalli’, ‘Kohitur’ and ‘Surma Fazli’ were identified as processing cultivars because of their high pulp and juice content. ‘Lakshman Bhog’, a regular bearer, attractive colour, having good fruit quality could be a potential cultivar for export from the state.