Poll question: How many mango varieties r in our country including desi, cultivars, etc
Options:
20
1000
50
1500
110
Ans: Scientific name of Mango is Mangifera Indica. This indicates that maximum varieties of mangoes can be found in India. Worldwide mango varieties can exceed 1500 wherein around 1000 can be found in India making it the largest producer of mangoes in the world.
Our traditional local varieties were typically the sucking varieties, with lot of fibre and juice in it. Through grafting techniques, cultivars like Alphonso, Kesar, Chausa, Mallika, Langra, Dasheri, etc.
These varieties r rich, creamy, tender, non-fibrous juicy pulp varieties with each cultivar having their own unique distinct flavour.
Sweetness of mangoes r measured with the use of refractometer to find the degrees brix which shows percentage of sugar. The Alphonso from Maharashtra and Chausa from North India vie for the most sweetest of mangoes with 20 to 24 degrees Brix. But many local desi varieties when tested had sweetness index even above 30 degrees brix.
Here we would like to highlight that in the race to produce quick yielding cultivar varieties, many local varieties have faced the axe and r extinct. We need to make an all out effort to conserve our desi, non grafted, non-glorified varieties like raiwal, desi badam, desi gola, etc and many other local varieties of each region.
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