Integrated mango production: objectives and challenges

The concept of integrated fruit production relies on three pillars matching with the current societal demands to agriculture: the production of high quality fruits, the reduction of environmental impacts and the farm economic performance.
These objectives question different disciplines and are in general addressed separately.
However, research should consider these objectives simultaneously, in an interdisciplinary approach, because trade-offs exist between them.
Canopy management appears as a crucial cornerstone in this context.
Better understanding of canopy functioning, in particular the interactions between vegetative and reproductive developments, is necessary to propose and test canopy management techniques meeting the expectations of integrated fruit production.
Other cultivation practices such as fertilization and irrigation are also important to consider for their interactions with canopy management.
Research on integrated mango production is well-developed in Réunion Island.
We present in this paper the major issues for integrated mango production and detail a major challenge to be tackled to reach the objectives of integrated production: the management of phenological asynchronisms.
Experimental results presented here show that the dynamics of flowering can be modified by manipulating vegetative growth before flowering or by manipulating flowering during the previous reproductive season.
Finally, the need for future research is discussed, in particular the characterization of interactions between canopy management and crop protection, and of the effects of cultivation practices and environment on canopy functioning.

XI International Symposium on Integrating Canopy, Rootstock and Environmental Physiology in Orchard Systems

F. Normand, P.-É. Lauri

canopy management, ecophysiology, flowering, Mangifera indica L., growth asynchronism

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2018.1228.56