Andhra Pradesh - Others   

Unfavourable weather hits mango yield

Staff Reporter

Banganpalli faces uncertain prospects due to fallen flowers

SOARING HEAT: Fruit Research Station in Sangareddy.

Sangareddy: Unfavourable weather at the time of flowering is bound to hit mango yield this year.

Temperatures straying above the required 8 to 15 degrees centigrade in night and below 20 degrees centigrade in daytime particularly in the month of December have drastically hit the flowering stage.

Explaining the prospects this year, principal scientist and head of FRS K. Vanajalatha says that those trees that faced similar trouble last year will do better this time as perennial trees store enough energy to face the drought conditions this year.

While Banganpalli face uncertain prospects due to fallen flowers, the Dassehri variety is expected to yield bumper produce this year. However Dr. Vanajalatha points out farmers could still save the mango if the panicle still has three to four flowers.

They can still provide sufficient water basing on the size of the canopy and by applying fertilizer.

The FRS, which has been encouraging use of micro irrigation systems in horticulture, has found that the farmers have discontinued with the drip, as the system is not flexible enough to match the growing mango tree.

Service providers

The scientists are now working with service providers to study the feasibility of adding more drips per tree. Even as some progressive farmers in the district have tried export oriented exotic Alphonso mango, they found that it is no match to Ratnagiri Alphonso of Maharastra .

The FRS decided to encourage its own new variety called Sensation. The plants would be ready for large-scale field trials this year.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

Fair deal sought for contract workers
Unfavourable weather hits mango yield
Man poses as AICC member, arrested
Rs. 1 cr. granted for housing scheme
TTD to bring out CDs on Annamayya keertanas
All white cardholders to be made SHG members
Hyderabad financier held for I-T evasion
Two farmers commit suicide

Copyright © 2007, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu