Delectable mango varieties on display to tickle taste buds

LUCKNOW: The ongoing mango show at the Central Institute for Subtropical Horticulture (CISH) presents a delectable sight for visitors. Almost all mango varieties have been assorted here, be it Tom atkins from Florida, Mallika from Uttarakhand, Dadshehri from Andhra Pradesh or Alphonso of Maharashtra.
More than 1,200 varieties of the King of Fruits are on display at the show.On Tuesday, while 600-odd varieties put on display were from the institute's own collection, rest were from Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Goa, Bihar, Maharashtra, Uttarakhand, UP and Kerala. The show is on till June 24. It also has some 12 exotic varieties mainly from Florida, Mexico and Brazil.
Meanwhile, a four-day global conference on "Augmenting production and utilization of mango: biotic and abiotic stresses" started at CISH on Tuesday.
The event has been organized by the Society for Development of Subtropical Horticulture (SDSH), CISH, in collaboration with international society of horticultural sciences, Belgium. The theme is "Mango for health care and livelihood".
The conference will take stock of the current status of mango research and development across the globe and prepare a road-map for sustainability and competitiveness. Horticulture sector received attention only two decades back and the investments on research and development increased manifold, resulting in Golden Revolution.
The horticultural production has reached 234.5 million tonnes and its contribution in agricultural GDP is 34.5%.
The ripe mangoes are a delicacy all over the world. Besides, unmarketable surpluses are utilized for squashes, syrups, marmalades, jams, jellies, and candies. The kernel is rich in carbohydrates, calcium and fat. It can be used as a source of food and starch.
The kernel oil has high cosmetic value too. The speakers at the conference expressed concern over the low mango productivity (7.0 MT per ha) in India compared to that of Brazil (15.6 MT per ha) and Indonesia (10.5 MT per ha).