Mango is one of the most priced tropical fruit in the world. Technically, mango is a fleshy stone fruit belonging to the genus Mangifera, consisting of numerous tropical fruiting trees in
the flowering plant family Anacardiaceae. It is native to
Asia such as India, Philippines,
Pakistan and Bangadesh. It has been distributed
worldwide to become one of the most cultivated fruits.
Mango
Consumption
Mangoes are generally sweet, although the taste and texture
of the flesh varies across cultivars, some having a soft, pulpy texture similar
to an overripe plum, while the flesh of others is firmer, like a cantaloupe or avocado, or may have a fibrous texture. Mangoes are widely
used in cuisine. In the Philippines, unripe mangoes may be eaten with bagoong. Dried strips
of sweet, ripe mango (sometimes combined with seedless tamarind to form mangorind) are also popular.
Mangoes may be used to make juices, mango nectar,
and as a flavoring and major ingredient in ice cream and sorbetes, and milkshakes.
Sweet glutinous rice is flavored with coconut, then served with sliced mango as
a dessert. In other parts of Southeast
Asia, mangoes are pickled with fish sauce and rice vinegar.
Green mangoes can be used in mango salad with fish sauce and dried shrimp.
Mango with condensed
milk may be used as a topping for shaved ice.
Eating mango fruits
are good for one’s health. Raw mango consists of about 81.7% water, 17%
carbohydrate, 0.5% protein, 0.3% fat, and 0.5% ash. A 100 g (3.5 oz) serving of
raw mango has 65 calories and about half the vitamin C found in oranges. Mango
contains more vitamin A than most fruits.
Production
and Cultivation
The Food and Agriculture
Organization of the United Nations estimates
worldwide production at nearly 35,000,000 tonnes (39,000,000 short tons) in
2009. The aggregate production of the top 10 countries is responsible for
roughly 80% of worldwide production. India is
the biggest producer of mangoes.
Mango tree is well
adopted to tropical and subtropical environmental conditions. It can be
cultivated until up to 1300 m above mean sea level. However, commercial
cultivations are limited to areas below 600 m above mean sea level. Optimum
temperature for mango cultivation is 27-30C. Mango is successfully cultivated
in areas where annual rainfall range from 500-2500 mm. For a successful crop,
most important thing is the distribution of rainfall rather than the amount.
A dry period of 3-4 months is an essential
prerequisite for successful flowering of mango. Rains at flowering may affect
yield due to pollen wash off. Mango can be cultivated in a wide range of
soil conditions. A well drained soil with 2 M depth is the best. Soil pH must
be 5.5-6.5. Soils with high clay content or with frequent water logging are not
suitable for successful cultivation of mango.
However, erratic
fruiting habits make mango cultivation challenging: being very seasonal, mango
trees bear fruit only one month in a whole year. Sometimes they bear fruit well
in one year, but do not bear fruit at all in the next year. To overcome these
challenges and make mango cultivation more commercially viable, in the early
1970s Philippine horticulturalist Dr. Ramon Barba set out to develop a chemical
solution to induce early flowering in mango plants.
Research and Development of Potassium nitrate Flower Induction
Already as a student, Dr. Barba, who
holds degrees in plant propagation and horticulture, was very interested in the
problems of mango production: “We already had a unique practice in the
Philippines of using smoke to bring on flowering. But it was a tedious
practice, and expensive. So as students we were all thinking, ‘how can we make
the mango flower?’” he recalls.
During in his years as a BS in
Agriculture student in the University of the Philippines Los Banos in Laguna,
he did research and established that the presence of ethylene in the smoke was
responsible for the flowering effect. “But you cannot just use ethylene – it is
a gas, you would have to cover the tree”, Dr. Barba points out. So, he started
experimenting with other chemicals: “Potassium nitrate was low on the list, but
I included it because I know from other studies that there is a link between
potassium nitrate and ethylene”, he says.
To deepen and continue his research,
he entered and got a scholarship in the University of Georgia where he had done
various experiments to induce flowering of plants using gibberillic acid and
Potassium nitrate. He finished his degree in MS in Horticulture (with
distinction) in the year 1962. He continued his studies in the East-West Center
in Hawaii and got his doctorate degree in Plant Physiology, specializing in Tropical
Fruits and Tissue Culture in 1967.
He encountered many criticisms of
his proposal to induce flowering of mangoes. However, with the help of Mr. and
Mrs. Jose Quimson of Quimara Farms in San Antonio, he had continued his research.
Out of 400 trees of 10-20 years old, he succeeded in conducting his experiments
and got good results. Mango trees bear flowers from 1 week to a month after
being sprayed with Potassium nitrate. “The process was very simple. You just
get one kilo of potassium nitrate, put it in 100 liters of water, spray it on the
plant once – and within a week you can see the buds forming. In two weeks the
buds are already forming into flowers. It was... unprecedented. I have never seen
any reaction so spectacular”, he said. Spraying mango trees with the liquid
doubles or triples the yield, in addition to making them fruit at different
times of the year.
In further research, Dr. Barba
analyzed whether forcing mango trees beyond normal fruiting had any impact on
them and found that they were affected: “After eight years of induction they are
15 percent smaller than those that are not treated. But there was no bad
effect, no damage to the mango. Trees that have been sprayed with potassium
nitrate for more than 30 years are still producing”, he reports. He published his research in a paper entitled Induction of Flowering of the Mango by Chemical Spray.
Patents
Overjoyed with his revolutionary
invention that any grower could use, Dr. Barba completely forgot to protect his
discovery: “I forgot all about the patenting aspect – until I read in the paper
that somebody else had patented potassium nitrate for mango flower induction. I
said, ‘But how can this be? I think I discovered it; everybody in the
scientific community thinks I discovered it; and here it is patented!’”
He immediately contacted the
Philippine patent office, who confirmed that they had received an application,
but that no patent had been granted yet. With the help of a lawyer, he applied
for a patent and contested the existing application. “Fortunately because of
the records I had, I could show that the invention was mine. So the process
went through and the patent office gave me the patent”, he recalls.
However, he is well aware of the
risk he incurred in not protecting his invention straight away: “If a patent
had been granted, then the other person would own my invention. I would not be
recognized as the inventor, so would lose the credit scientifically and lose
any financial possibility”.
During the process, he learnt that
patents can do many things: “Patenting both protects your rights and helps you
make the benefits of your invention available. Patents give some inspiration
because the reward is there, and the recognition. In the Philippines there
needs to be more information, more education about it. If we could introduce
the subject in school science classes it would be a big step”, he says.
Business
Results
The use of potassium nitrate to
induce flowering in mango plants has revolutionized the Philippine mango
industry: “It has been said that no single plant commodity has benefited as
much from a single technology as the mango has from potassium nitrate induction.
From 1974, when it was virtually neglected, it has become our number one fruit
crop”, reports Dr. Barba. “The effects are felt in all areas related to mango
production. Everybody has benefited: the companies selling pest control
chemicals, the people who harvest, the people who package, the people who bring
the fruit to market, and the people who make baskets for mangoes”, he
continues.
Today, with an annual production of
about 900,000 tons, the Philippines are among the top ten mango producers
worldwide, making the crop one of the country’s top exports. Dr. Barba’s mango
flower induction method is now used in many countries around the world. He has
received numerous prestigious awards for his research, including the IBM-DOST
Award in 1989, the DA-Khush Achievement Award in 1995, the Crop Science Society
of the Philippines Best Paper Award in 1974 and 1981, and the Gamma Sigma Delta
Achievement Award in 1995. What he finds most rewarding is the impact of his
discovery: “I am very proud of having invented the potassium nitrate
technology. As a scientist, I feel that one technology that has a positive
impact on agriculture justifies a lifetime of research”.
One
Creative Idea, One Patent, Many Positive Effects
Patenting helped Dr. Barba
disseminate his invention: the security that he had all the rights to his
discovery enabled him to share his technology with a maximum number of people
by choosing not to enforce his patent. His ingenuity has contributed to
increasing food security and has benefited a wide range of communities involved
with mango growing, in particular in developing countries, where most mangoes
are grown.
Thank you Dr. Barba,
ReplyDeleteYour invention is so much useful to farmers like me. I am from india. Hear also its giving so nice result. Any one wants to discuss on that please contact me on "vishal7258@gmail.com"
Thanks again
Hve you tried on other fruits?
ReplyDeleteI just heard about inducing mangoes from a Philippino friend. I grow fruit seedlings and distribute them to farmers. Going to give this a try. Eager to hear if it works on other fruit trees as well. Thank you. Tom
ReplyDeletenice..could u help me for a seminar /training for mango spraying management?
ReplyDeletei wanted to train my workers or let them for several skills in spraying mango for a better fruit production..we already started the game"spraying"...if somebody could be as mentor pls help to recommend, thanks...contact no.09099601102.
ReplyDeleteAlam ko so Mr Bugante ang naka discover. He was also from uplb.
ReplyDelete