Food Crop: Mango



Food Crop: Mango

Food Crop Choice

The food crop chosen for this paper is mango. This reason of choosing mango is because it is considered as the King of fruits. It is also one of my favorite fruits.

Introduction

Mango or mangifera is a kind of tropical plants of the family Sumahovye. The word "mango" is also used for the name of the fruit with a sweet taste and fibrous structure, with a peel in red, yellow and green and yellow or orange flesh, which is derived mostly from one species of this genus Mangifera indica. Mango is one of the national symbols of India and Pakistan. The season of the mangos is summer. The term "mango" was coined in the language at the turn of the seventeenth century. It comes from Portuguese manga, which was borrowed from the Tamil mangka or man-gay. In Reunion and other islands of the Indian Ocean, according to variety and the use we made ??of the fruit, it can be called "Mangot" or "mangotine". The genus Mangifera comes from Southeast Asia (Litz, 2009). The ancestor of cultivated mango tree still grows in the wild. Domestication could date back to 4000 years BC, in India. For all the peoples of this region, the mango was, and still is considered the "king of fruits". In India, it has long symbolized the monarchy itself.

Evergreen mango tree has a height of 10-45 m; crown of the tree reaches 10 m radius of the new leaves grow yellow-pink in color, but quickly become dark green. Small (colors from white to pink) flowers after are bloomed after when they start to attain flavor, similar to the scent of lilies. After wilting of these flowers, the fruit ripening mangoes usually take 3-6 months. Ripe fruits hang on long stems and weigh up to 2 kg. Peel of the mango is thin, smooth, green, yellow or red depending on the degree of maturity (often found a combination of all three colors). The large, flat and hard stone surrounded by pulp, which can be fibrous or soft, depending on the ripeness of the fruit (nt.gov.au).

Global Production of the Mango

Mango is produced in over 90 countries worldwide. The major countries that produce mangoes are as follows:

20 major producers of mangoes - 2009

Country

thousands of tons of mangoes

India

13,557

China

4140

Thailand

2469

Indonesia

2150

Pakistan

1728

Mexico

1509

Brazil

1197

Nigeria

831

Bangladesh

828

Philippines

771

Vietnam

540

Kenya

474

Egypt

450

Yemen

404

Cuba

354

Tanzania

320

Dominican Republic

257

Haiti

244

Madagascar

221

Democratic Republic of Congo

210

source: Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)

The world production of mangoes all over the years is as follows:

World production of mangoes over the years

Year

Thousands of tons

1965

11,486

1970

12,030

1975

12,768

1980

14,420

1985

16,545

1990

17,051

1995

22,446

2000

24,888

2005

31,203

2006

33,434

2007

34,456

2008

34,994

source: Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)

Contribution of Mango to People's Diet

Ripe fruit taste is very sweet and has a pleasant sweet flavor. There are many vitamins and sugars, but few acids. Vitamin A is contained in the mature fruit in large quantities has beneficial effects on the eyes: helps with “night blindness ", dryness of the cornea and other eye diseases. In addition, regular use of ripe fruits in the diet helps to improve immunity and prevents infections catarrhal nature, such as acute respiratory disease, rhinitis, etc. Mature fruits are also used for weight loss, as ...