Fruit quality and photosynthetic response of three cultivars of mango (Mangifera indica L.) in a greenhouse in south of Italy

It is believed that mango cultivation will undergo a shift toward the North within the end of the 21^st century, as a consequence of the ongoing climate change.
Greenhouse cultivation of mango is one of the cultivation practices growers of the Mediterranean basin are putting in practice.
In this paper, we measured fruit quality and photosynthetic activity of three global cultivars of mango (‘Keitt’, ‘Osteen’ and ‘Tommy Atkins’) grown inside a plastic greenhouse in Sicily during one reproductive season.
The temperatures outside and inside the greenhouse were monitored and, after harvest, fruit physico-chemical and sensory quality was assessed.
Temperatures within the greenhouse reached extreme highs of 50°C during the summer, but no apparent damage was observed on fruit and plants.
Mango trees maintained a good level of photosynthetic activity, with an average between 10 and 20 μmol CO₂ m² s^‑1. Fruits of all studied cultivars reached the optimal Total Soluble Solids Content for their marketing, and a very high sugars/acid ratio.
Sensory analysis, conducted by means of a panel test, confirmed the quality of the greenhouse-grown fruits, which presented themselves as attractive and free from defects.
In general, we observed that these three cultivars of mango performed well when grown inside a greenhouse in a Mediterranean climate, even in spite of extremely high temperatures.

XXXI International Horticultural Congress (IHC2022): International Symposium on Adaptation of Horticultural Plants to Abiotic Stresses

G. Gugliuzza, D. Scuderi, V. Farina

temperature, Mangifera indica, protected horticulture, ‘Keitt’, ‘Osteen’, ‘Tommy Atkins’, sensory analysis

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2023.1372.34