Page 455 - FRUTAS DEL TRÓPICO

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shoRt couRse on tRopical fRuits

small, greenish yellow, with 5 stamens (1 fertile) and an aborted pistil in male flowers or bi-

sexual with fertile stamens and a superior ovary. Anthesis occurs over a 3-8 week period.

• Mango fruit is a fleshy drupe with a thick, leathery exocarp (peel) and thick fleshy mesocarp

surrounding a stony endocarp which contains a single seed which possesses one or more

embryos. Fruit may be globose, oval, ovoid-oblong; the peel green to highly colored and

weight from 60 g to 2.3 kg.

Climatic adaptations —optimum
1. Adapted to a wide range of subtropical and tropical climactic and edaphic conditions.

2. Shoot growth is optimum at 24-30°C (day/night); temperatures at or greater than 15°C are

required for shoot growth; increasingly warm temperatures increase the number of flushes

per unit time and reduces their time to maturation.

3. Root growth occurs at temperatures of or greater than 21°C.

4. For monembryonic types, floral induction occurs in response to cool nonfreezing temperatu-

res (temperatures below about 15°C) along with a cessation of summer vegetative growth.

The length of time of exposure to cool temperature necessary for floral induction varies

with cultivar however, the longer the period of growth cessation the more likely flowering will

commence when trees are initiated to grow. Drought during this period enhances the subsequent

intensity of flowering response.

5. The major environmental signal for polyembryonic types under tropical conditions is drought

stress which induces a period of vegetative growth cessation. The duration of low soil mois-

ture necessary to induce trees to flower varies with cultivar however, the longer the period of

growth cessation the more likely flowering will commence when trees are initiated to grow.

Universidad Autónoma de Chiapas