Domestication Potential of Aromatic Pickle-mango (Appemidi) Types in the Central Western Ghats, India

Abstract

Aromatic pickle-mango types, locally termed as ‘Appemidi’, are extensively collected for household use and for commerce from the wild habitats even today in the central Western Ghats, India. Because of the deep cultural attachment, people have recognized several pickle-mango types from the wild habitats. However, studies on treeto-tree variation in fruit and stone traits in natural populations are not done, which is a pre-requisite for cultivar development. Unripe fruits collected from 34 wild fruiting trees in two populations, 17 from Sirsi and 17 from Siddapur localities in Central Western Ghats, India were studied for variation in fruit traits and its association traits. Fruits from Sirsi locality were significantly larger than those from Siddapur (84.27 vs. 51.26g) due to their greater green flesh mass (79.91 vs. 43.17 g). Tree-to-tree variation was highly significant and continuous in fruit length (Sirsi = 49.45–102.51 mm; Siddapur = 28.23–59.19 mm), stone length (Sirsi=26.97–55.59 mm; Siddapur=20.43–51.47mm), fruit mass (Sirsi=19.78–84.27g; Siddapur=15.50–51.26 g) and flesh mass (Sirsi=18.01– 79.91g; Siddapur=13.93–43.17g), indicating the potential for selection. The strong relationships between fruit mass and green flesh mass in aromatic pickle-mango found in this study indicated that selection for green flesh mass can be based on fruit mass. Based on five important traits preferred by growers/fruit collectors/sellers and four quantitative traits from observations, development of an ‘ideal type’ and identification of potential superior trees was attempted. These results have important implications for the domestication of pickle-mango genetic resources.