|
|
|
Philippine Panorama, Sunday, June
3, 2001 |
|
How to
produce better quality mango |
|
Agri-Talk by
Zac B. Sarian
|
| One way of
making our fruits more competitive in the world
market is to improve their quality. This means their
eating quality, keeping quality, their size to suit
what the market needs, and their appearance.
Taking mango, for instances. Of course, the carabao
mango is the pride of the Philippines and local
agricultural officials are banking on this crop as
an export winner. Of course, not all carabao mangoes
are excellent quality. Some are small-fruited with a
lot of fiber. These are the inferior varieties that
command a low price in the local market.
Fortunately, the excellent carabao mango selections
have been identified and now registered with the
National Seed Industry Council, formerly know as the
Philippine Seed Board. These include four Guimaras
mangoes (Nos. 73, 77, 84 and 85), two more Guimaras
called Talaban and Fresco, the Lamao No.1 originally
from Bataan, and the MMSU Gold from Batac, Ilocos
Norte.
|
 |
|
The
fruits of these registered carabao mango varieties are
usually much bigger than the inferior carabao mango. The
fruits of the Guimaras selections, for instance, average
about 300 grams each. Besides their big size, they have a
high percentage of edible portion because their seeds are
thin. They are sweet, juicy and with scanty fibers -
characteristics preferred by consumers.
Of course, planting the desired varieties is just one
step toward the production of high-quality fruits. The
fruits should not only be big and fleshy, they should also
look attractive. That means they are blemish-free like most
of the mangoes produced in Cebu. The technique, of course,
is wrapping the fruits while they are on the tree.
What can be done to improve the fruits of inferior
varieties? One technique is to topwork the inferior tree.
This is done by cutting off the branches of the tree and
replacing them with stems (called scion) of the superior
varieties. For example, if you have planted the
small-fruited Pahutan or the so-called Batangas strain of
carabao mango, you can cut off the top of the tree, allow
new branches to develop, and when these are the size of the
small finger, you could graft unto them the scions from the
desirable tree. When the tree is young and has a trunk as
big s the hand, you can cut the tree about a meter above the
ground. Wait for new branches to come out and then graft
them with the superior variety when they have attained the
right size. For bigger threes, you can change the entire
crown with the desirable variety.
Bernie Dizon, a graduate of the Central Luzon State
University, is an expert in topworking. At the Teresa Techno
demo Farm in Rizal, he has topworked an Indian mango with
Millennium mango from Malaysia. He has also topworked a
carabao mango with several varieties from the Philippines,
Thailand, Malaysia, and Taiwan. He now calls it the
international mango. |
|
|
|
|
