PERFORMANCE OF SEVEN NEW MANGO (MANGIFERA INDICA L.) HYBRID SELECTIONS AT THE CENTRAL REGION OF BRAZIL

Abstract

Abstract Mango ( Mangifera indica L.) is one of the most important Brazilian tropical fruits cultivated in an area bigger than 70 thousand hectares, production of 970 thousand tons and exportation of around 130 thousand tons in 2004. Most production and exportation occurs in the tropical semi-arid conditions in Brazil’s Northeastern Region and are concentrated (80%) on a single cultivar: Tommy Atkins. This is a very dangerous situation since, if a severe disease occurs on this specific genotype, the whole Brazilian mango industry could be destroyed. In addition, Tommy Atkins is characterized by several negative traits aspects, such as susceptibility to mango malformation and high levels of the physiological disorder called ‘pulp breakdown’ as well as having fruit quality in terms of taste. The Embrapa mango breeding program has the objective to develop cultivars superior to Tommy Atkins in productivity, fruit quality, resistance to diseases, and free of physiological disorders. ‘Roxa Embrapa 141’, ‘Alfa Embrapa 142’, ‘Beta’ and ‘Lita’ were cultivars released between 1998 and 2002, which have excellent characteristics for both fresh consumption and for the processing industry. Currently, seven new mango hybrid selections are being evaluated in regional tests (genotype x environment evaluation) in order to identify the best cultivars with, at least, two characteristics superior to ‘Tommy Atkins’. The hybrid selections CPAC 23/86, CPAC 22/93, CPAC 165/93, and CPAC 329/94 with red-purplish to red-yellowish fruit, and very sweet and firm pulp are the best mango selections in Brazil’s Central Region, although they still need to be tested in the tropical semi-arid condition in the Northeastern Region. This paper compares the most important fruit characteristics of these seven hybrid selections with Tommy Atkins (a North American) and Heidi (a South African) cultivars. INTRODUCTION