PRELIMINARY STUDIES ON FRUIT-SET OF MANGO CULTIVAR TOMMY ATKINS UNDER GREENHOUSE CULTIVATION IN THE CANARY ISLANDS

Greenhouse cultivation of mangoes is of increasing interest in the Canary Islands as it reduces initial bearing time, improves yields, and produces early-season fruit.

Preliminary observations showed unusually low fruit-set, probably due to the lack of pollinating vectors given the closed environment within the greenhouses.
A two-year trial was set up to establish the extent to which controlled introduction of insect vectors affected pollination and subsequent fruit-set.
Isolated trees of Tommy Atkins alone as well as together with two other cultivars were studied both with and without flies and bees as pollinators.

Results showed that greenhouse mango cultivation requires insect pollinators to be present and, more importantly, that the fruit-set of Tommy Atkins improves with cross-pollination.

V International Mango Symposium

V. Saúco, D. Galván, Juan C. Hernández Conde, A. Navarro

Insect pollinators, pollination

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.1997.455.69