Mango cultivar diversity and its potential for improving mango productivity in Kenya

Mango ( Mangifera indica L.) is one of the high potential fruits in Kenya, suitable for different agro-ecological zones ranging from sub-humid to semi-arid. Despite the still growing economic importance of mango in K enya, its production potential has not yet been fully exp loited. This is partly due to lack of knowledge abo ut the most suitable mango varieties for the diverse agro-ecolo gical zones. In addition, the existing introduced a nd local varieties may not be the most suitable ones. A high intra-specific diversity of mango is essential as a basis for breeding activities and for selecting suitable vari eties. Kenya does not have detailed information on mango varieties in the country. The objectives of this st udy were to document mango varieties at selected motherblocks, nurseries and farms in Central and Ea stern Kenya and to combine results of this pilot st udy with secondary data. The pilot study was conducted at th ree Kenya Agricultural Research Institutes (KARIs), five prison farms and six individual farms. All mango va rieties were recorded and individual trees were cou nted. In addition, interviews of selected key stakeholders a nd a literature search were performed. A total of 5 0 mango varieties were found in the surveyed motherblocks. Per location, 10-36 varieties were observed with a mean of 21. Many of these 50 varieties originated from Flor ida, Israel or Indonesia/Philippines and were intro duced in Kenya in the 1980’s. Five varieties, the local ones Apple and Ngowe, and the Florida varieties Kent, S ensation and Tommy Atkins, were the most frequent and abunda nt ones in the surveyed motherblocks, whereas many of the other mango varieties were neglected. In the su rveyed nurseries, a total of 20 mango varieties wer e found, but only five varieties were produced in large numb ers (Apple, Kent, Ngowe, Tommy Atkins and Van Dyke) . Thus, a quite large portion of the available geneti c resources was not used accordingly. The surveyed farmers cultivated three to six different mango varieties w ith a mean of 4.8 varieties per farm. Apple, Kent a nd Tommy Atkins were the most frequent and abundant varietie s. These findings corresponded well with results fr om the literature search, where the varieties Apple, Haden , Kent, Ngowe, Sensation, Tommy Atkins and Van Dyke were given as most important in Kenya. Interviewees mentioned many challenges for their mango business such as problems with pests and diseases, lack of financ e, low quality of harvested fruits, too short harve st season and lack of quantity of fruits for processing. These co nstraints could be addressed by (i) evaluation and characterisation of available rootstock and scion v arieties to select the most suitable ones, (ii) importing mango varieties from advanced mango producing countries, and (iii) improving varieties by systematic breeding programs for their better adaptation to present and future environmental and socioeconomic conditions in Kenya.

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