MSc.

The present investigation on ‘Characterization of Kuttiattoor mango
(Mangifera indica L.) cultivar of Kannur district, Kerala’ was undertaken to
characterize Kuttiattoor mango cultivar grown in Kuttiattoor Panchayath and the
nearby Grama Panchayaths viz., Kolachhery, Mayyil, Koodali, Munderi and
Malappattam and to characterize the similar mango cultivar of the area. The
preliminary survey revealed that Kunjimangalam mango cultivar found in
Kunjimangalam Grama Panchayath was a similar cultivar to the Kuttiattoor
cultivar. Therefore, Kunjimangalam mango cultivar was also characterized.
In the present study it was noticed that flowering commenced in the
second week of November in majority of the Panchayaths but a slight delay was
noticed in Kuttiattoor and Kunjimangalam Panchayat. The peak flowering was
observed in third and fourth week of December in most of the Panchayaths while
in Kunjimangalam Panchayath it was in the second week of January. The time of
fruit maturity was during the fourth week of March and first week of April in trees
from most of the Panchayaths but in Kunjimangalam Panchayath, a slight delay
was noticed.
Kuttiattoor cultivar was noted to have an attractive semi-circular crown
shape. Generally, all the trees were tall and found to have spreading type of tree
growth habit. Tree height ranged from 13.50 m to 16.10 m with an overall mean
of 14.82 m. Trunk circumference ranged from 129.00 cm to 164.20 cm with an
overall mean of 144.22 cm. The crown diameter ranged from 10.90 m to 15.90
with an overall mean of 13.12 m. The tree characters did not vary significantly in
trees across the Panchayaths.
Kuttiattoor cultivar showed medium intensity of anthocyanin colouration
in young leaves. The colour of young leaves were light green with brownish tinge.
Mature leaves were dark green in colour without leaf blade twisting. Leaf base
was obtuse and leaf tip was acuminate. The petiole attitude in relation to shoot
was perpendicular. The leaf characters except petiole length did not show
significant variation in tree from Panchayath to Panchayath including
Kunjimangalam.
Leaf blade length ranged from 21.83 cm to 22.46 and leaf blade width
ranged from 6.08 cm to 6.33 cm with an overall mean of 6.16 cm. The ratio
ranged from 3.54 to 3.59. The spacing of secondary veins in leaf blade ranged
from 1.31 cm to 1.49 cm with an overall mean of 1.42 cm. The petiole length
ranged from 3.39 cm to 4.02. Petiole length varied slightly in leaves across the
Panchayaths.
The anthocyanin colouration of the inflorescence was absent or weak
uniformily in all the Panchayaths. The inflorescence length ranged from 20.33 cm
to 23.95 cm with an overall mean of 22.13 cm. The inflorescence diameter ranged
from 17.80 cm to 20.54 cm with an overall mean of 19.54 cm. The inflorescence
length and diameter varied slightly across the Panchayaths.
Broad elliptic shape in cross section, green colour of skin, medium colour
contrast between lenticels and skin, absence of roughness of surface, medium
depth of stalk cavity, rounded outward shape of dorsal shoulder, rounded upward
type of ventral shoulder, absence of neck, absence of bulging on ventral shoulder,
absence of sinus and absence of bulging of proximal stylar scar where the typical
qualitative mature fruit characters. The qualitative characters did not vary across
the Panchayaths including Kunjimangalam.
The fruit length ranged from 8.78 cm to 9.18 cm and the fruit width ranged
from 8.11 cm to 8.30 cm. The ratio obtained by dividing the fruit length by fruit
width ranged from 1.07 to 1.10 with an overall mean of 1.08. The size of lenticels
ranged from 134.78 μm to 137.28 μm with an overall mean of 136.20 μm.
Diameter of stalk attachment recorded an overall mean of 4.46 mm. Density of
lenticels and diameter of stalk attachment of fruits varied slightly across the
Panchayaths. The other fruit quantitative characters did not vary significantly
across the Panchayaths.
Yellow-orange colour of skin, medium orange colour of flesh, absence of
skin speckling were the characters shown by ripe fruits. The characters viz.
adherence of skin to flesh, firmness of flesh, juiciness, texture of flesh, amount of
fibre attached to stone and amount of fibre attached to skin were recorded as
‘medium’ in fruits from all Panchayaths including Kunjimangalam. The thickness
of skin ranged from 1.02 mm to 1.09 mm with an overall mean of 1.06 mm.
The relief of stone surface was ridged and the seed shape was reniform.
The cultivar was highly polyembryonic. 89.66 per cent of the nuts exhibited
polyembryony whereas 10.34 per cent exhibited monoembryony.
Biochemical characterization revealed that TSS ranged from 12.62 0Brix
to 15.40 0Brix with an overall mean of 14.45 0Brix. TSS was very similar to that
obtained for Muvandan in earlier studies. Titratable acidity ranged from 0.14 per
cent to 0.21 per cent with an overall mean of 0.18 per cent and carotenoids ranged
from 4.48 mg/100g to 7.66 mg/100g with an overall mean of 6.47 mg/100g.
Ascorbic acid ranged from 37.65 mg/to 50.98 mg/100g and the crude fibre ranged
from 2.56 per cent to 5.05 per cent. TSS and crude fibre showed slight variation in
mangoes across the Panchayaths.
The cluster analysis grouped 55 trees into two clusters. It was observed
that trees from same Panchayath were distributed to both the clusters. Majority of
trees from Kunjimangalam were distributed in Cluster I, which had most of the
trees of Kuttiattoor, indicating that, the trees identified from Kunjimangalam had
close similarity to the trees from Kuttiattoor and nearby Panchayaths.