BIOTECHNOLOGY AND MANGO IMPROVEMENT

Abstract

Very few improved mango cultivars have been released during the past two decades as a result of conventional breeding. The resources necessary for a successful breeding programme, which include significant investment in land, time and genetic resources, etc., have limited the extent, success and number of mango breeding programmes. Genetic engineering, an alternative approach for improving mango production, emerged just over a decade ago, and offers a sustainable way for addressing certain key breeding objectives. The primary components of mango genetic engineering include: 1) efficient somatic embryogenesis and plant recovery from elite (i.e., nucellar) material; 2) induction of random mutations in embryogenic cultures and challenging for resistance to a specific selective agent; and 3) transformation with a gene that mediates a horticultural trait. On the basis of past and current research, it is probable that the following breeding priorities can be addressed by 1) mutation breeding: resistance to abiotic soil stress and certain diseases; and by 2) genetic transformation: control of fruit ripening, seedlessness and certain diseases.