Performance of mango cultivars in eroded soils of Shiwalik foothills.

The present study describes the evaluation of six commercially important mango (indica L.) cultivars namely ‘Dashehari ’, ‘Langra ’, ‘Chausa ’, ‘Lucknow Safeda ’, ‘Ramkela ’, ‘Sinduri ’and two hybrids, namely ‘Amrapali ’(Dashehari × Neelam) and ‘Mallika ’(Neelam × Dashehari) being grown in the eroded soils of lower Himalayas. The experimental orchard was established in the year 2000 with plantation of uniform sized plantlets of different cultivars/hybrids under uniform edaphic conditions. The climate is sub-tropical humid with an annual average rainfall of 1118.8 mm. Comprehensive data for evaluation of horticultural traits of different cultivars and hybrids were recorded for three consecutive years (2008–2010). Maximum TCSA (477.2 cm2), TCV (116.97 m3) and CA (23.50 m2) was observed in cultivar ‘Ramkela ’. Cultivar ‘Sinduri ’exhibited low growth vigour and the poorest total yields. Cumulative yield ranged from 28.7 kg tree−1 (for the lowest yield cultivar ‘Sinduri’) to 91.1 kg tree−1 (for the most productive hybrid ‘Mallika’). The qualitative analysis indicated the superiority of hybrid ‘Mallika ’in terms of total soluble solids, titrable acidity, TSS: acid ratio, sugar content, low stone and peel content and high pulp attributes and low percent of physiological loss in weight of fruit compared to other cultivars and hybrids.