Mango is an exotic fruit with more than 4500 varieties with different colors, aromas, tastes and nutrition values. It is a God’s gift to India and is adored as national fruit. From ancient times it is cultivated in India and propagated to various parts of the globe in the last 500 years. India had once more than 3000 varieties of mangoes. Due to various reasons many of the local varieties have become extinct. They are being replaced by grafted and hybrid varieties with better quality and yield. Though India produces 55% of the global production, it ranks lower in export. Modern techniques, tree and crop protection methods, harvesting skills, post-harvest and export procedures are yet to reach the mango grower. Central Government and state Governments are taking extra care to boost farmers’ and National GDP.
As I was born and brought up in Parashurama Shristi a coastal land from Konkan, Goa, Karnataka and Kerala. This land is very fertile with many small rivers and full of greenery containing many fruit trees, spices, paddy fields, coconut palms, varieties of vegetables and timber. I am one of the beneficiaries of this land. My maternal grandfather taught me about farming right from my schooldays, often taking me to his farm at Kumbla, orchard at Kasargod. Besides this he had a big orchard in Mangalore where I stayed during my schooldays. So, to pay tribute to Lord Parashurama and my grandfather, I started writing book on my 67 years of field experience. This book “A treatise on mango the king of fruits” provides comprehensive information on Mango from A – Z in about 50 chapters and around 1600 pages in 4 volumes in A4 size books at a single source. It has taken 13 years to compile the book with material from various sources and from my experience in Mango field. Volume 1 (2nd edition) has 13 chapters containing information on History, Etymology, species, description of mango tree; climatic and soil requirements for mango growing; methods of propagation; methods of cultivation, irrigation, fertigation and pruning; LDP, HDP, UHDP, Dwarf, Container and Bonsai mango growing; harvesting techniques; postharvest processing and management; ripening techniques and quality assessment. This book is useful for undergraduate, postgraduate and research students, growers, nursery persons and mango lovers. By reading this book, many people may get inspired and start mango farms. I wish all of them good luck.