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Almost any kind of soil is good for mango, except such soils which are less than one metre in depth and those with sub-soils having rocks or too sticky as clay. Some of the best mango orchards of Bangladesh are found in the gangetic flood plains in soils rich in alluvium loam, deep, and with a substratum of loose gravel. The optimum pH of soil for good growth ranges from 5.5 to 7.5. Mango flourishes well under conditions where there is enough rain to weight the soil up to a good depth, and a well-defined dry season with no rain at all. The setting of fruits is adversely affected by fog, rain, or cloudy weather in January-March when the trees flower. Mild showers at the time of development and enlargement of fruits are beneficial, but storms, particularly hailstorms, adversely affect them, often resulting in immature fruit drops.
When vegetatively propagated, mango trees begin to bear fruits for the first time in the fourth year of planting. Trees raised from seedlings take several years more to bear fruits. Once thus begin to have fruits, the number of fruits go on increasing year after year. Grafted trees remain in fruit bearing condition up to about the 45th year, after which there is a decline in fruit production. On the other hand, seedling trees tend to live longer and may bear fruits up to the age of 60 years or more.
Production Bangladesh produced about 1,86,760 m tons of mango during 1997-98 from an area of about 1,24,520 acres. The annual production, however, fluctuates, depending upon various factors. The present production is not very high compared to that of other mango growing countries. According to FAO, mango production in this country amounted to, on average, about 4,24,000 m tons during 1969-71. This indicates that the production has declined considerably during the last three decades. The factors that are considered responsible for the decline of production include: (i) old trees which are no longer productive; (ii) a general lack of interest and attention amongst owners; (iii) lack of management and care of trees; (iv) absence of plant protection measures against insect pests and diseases; (v) growing trees from seedlings; (vi) apathy towards use of improved techniques of production; and (vii) indiscriminate felling of productive trees for fuel wood, road construction, house-building etc.
Pests and diseases Among various reasons for the impaired production of mango, the attack of insect pests and diseases is of particular importance. Insect pests and diseases not only reduce yields but also sometimes account for complete crop failures. About three dozens of insect pests are known to attack mango plants in Bangladesh from their nursery stage to maturity.
Infested inflorescence bears a few or no fruits. Infested fruits drop prematurely or become unfit for consumption. Infestations to stem, branch, or roots may result in death or may affect the growth and vigour of a plant. Severe leaf infestations cause loss of vitality of trees which ultimately reduce fruit production. The major insect pests are Mango hoppers, Idiocopus atkisoni, I. clypealis and I. niveosparsus (Cicadellidae: Homoptera); Mango fruit weevils, Sternochetus frigidus, S. gravis and S. mangifera (Curculionidae: Coleoptera); Mango stem borer, Batocera rubus (Cerambycidae: Coleoptera); Mango shoot borer, Alcidodes franatus (Curculionidae: Coleoptera); Mango fruit fly, Dacus dorsalis (Tephritidae: Diptera) etc.
Several fungal diseases such as anthracnose, sooty mould, leaf blight, die back, powdery milddew, and a bacterial disease named leaf spot cause considerable damage to mango plantations.
Uses The mango is one of the most delicious fruits of the world and is rightly designated as the 'king of fruits'. Different varieties however, have different tastes and flavours. The best consumption of mango is in the form of fresh fruit. The ripe fruit is peeled and the pulp is eaten as such, the fleshes either cut into pieces or made into small slices. Green fruits are often put into curries or 'dal' (pulse soup) for extra taste.
A considerable quantity of both ripe and green fruits are used for making jam, jelly, squash, chutney, pickle (achar), and similar other products.