Floral Retention and Fruit Set in Mangifera indica

A laboratory report submitted by Alangelico O. San Pascual as partial requirement for Hort 230: Fruit Crop
Physiology under the supervision of Dr. Calixto M. Protacio

Introduction
Flowering in Mango is a vital process in the mango fruit production but the story does not end in
the induction of flowering or floral bud break but on the phenomena after that, which includes
floral retention and fruit set. Floral retention is necessary since flower dropping is the terminal of
the life of the floret. Without the flower connected to the plant, no fertilization will occur since
the flower cannot, at any manner get any food source since it is not connected with the plant.
There are several mechanisms and factors that lead to floral dropping such as high temperature,
disease, water/ osmotic stress, micro and macro nutrient deficiency, pests and mechanical
damage. IN addition, pollination is also important, without pollination, the flower will not
commence to development as a fruit nor will it serve its purpose as a reproductive organ of the
plant. Many affects the successful fruit set, one very vital is pollination stigmatic receptivity
and anther dehiscence and the timing of these two and also the presence of pollinators, may it be
insect, wind, water and even man as for assisted pollination.

Methods

Mango trees induced with KNO3 were subjected to fruit set and fruit retention experiments. Foliar
Spray Application: March 31, 2017 of 0.08% KNO3 was done on flowers for treatment 1 while distilled
water was sprayed on another batch of sample panicles. Number of fruits that set was counted after two
weeks.

T-test with 95% confidence interval was used to test for significance using Microsoft Excel and Statistical
program for Social Science (SPSS, 2014). Graphs were generated using MS Excel while t test results were
generated using SPSS. Eighteen sample measurements were divided into three to represent three
replications.

Results and Discussion

Branch No. Tree No. 1 Tree No. 2

1 9.4 26.2
2 18.7 42.6
3 32.5 31.1
4 7.6 52.4
5 5.5 40.9
6 32.8 50.8
7 32.8 14.4
8 26.2 19.7
9 23 14.4
10 36 52.4
11 26.2 7.9
12 26.2
13 26.2
Average 23.31538462 32.07272727
 Floral Retention and Fruit Set in Mangifera indica
A laboratory report submitted by Alangelico O. San Pascual as partial requirement for Hort 230: Fruit Crop
Physiology under the supervision of Dr. Calixto M. Protacio

Table 1. Individual measurements of lengths of panicles and their means per tree in centimeters.

Table 1 shows the length of individual sample panicles measured. Longest panicle was observed
in tree no. 2 having 50.2 cm while the shortest was observed in tree no. 1 having 5.5cm. Mean
length was 23.32 and 32.07 cm for tree no.1 and 2 respectively.

Fruit Set:
Fruit set was observed by counting the number of flowers that have developed into a fruit or
have enlarged ovary. Two treatments were set. One the control and the other the use of KNO3 as
spray to improve fruit set. Figure 1 shows the raw data on the fruit set per panicle.

KNO3

dH2O

0 5 10 15 20 25
Figure 1. (A) Flowers of Mango after induction by KNO 3. (B) Fruit
Setting and development of fertilized flowers into fruits and (C) Leaf Figure 2. Mean fruit set for each treatment
flushes instead of flower panicle emergence.

Figure 1 shows the flower panicle that emerged

from shoots after floral bud break by the aid of KNO3. The second picture shows the flowers that
re starting to develop into a fruit ( as emphasized by red circles) and (C) leaf emergence as result
of KNO3 spraying of vegetatively-determined shoots .
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
dH2O KNO3
Figure 3. Count data on fruit set of Mangifera indica per panicle observed.

Figure 2 shows the mean fruit set of mango. It was found that the control (distilled water applied
panicles) have higher fruit set rate having 22.05% while that of the potassium nitrate treated have
Floral Retention and Fruit Set in Mangifera indica
A laboratory report submitted by Alangelico O. San Pascual as partial requirement for Hort 230: Fruit Crop
Physiology under the supervision of Dr. Calixto M. Protacio

only 12.22%. T-test was done using SPSS and was observed that the control was significantly
different with that of KNO3 treatment (table 1).

Fruit Retention

Fruit retention experiment have observed no significant difference on both treatments having a
mean of 0.889% fruit retention in KNO3 sprayed and 1.33% on distilled water sprayed fruitlets.
Based on fruit set, percent fruit retention was 6.4 and 7.2 for treatment 1 and 2 respectively.

Discussion
Oosthuyse (1995) stated that mango cultivars in Africa such as the T Atkins and Heidi have few fruits as
compared to other varieties but due to single application of 4% KNO3, it has significantly increased the
number of flowers that set into fruits. In addition, Yeshitela (2004) also concluded that KNO3 spray
increased fruit number as compared to the control. In contrast to the results obtained in this study.

Total nitrogen content of the spray solution was the critical factor. Phatak & Pandey (1978) observed that
nitrogen status could be affected by foliar applications of KNO3 and reported accumulation of nitrogen
before flowering. Protacio (2000) mentioned the possibility of a threshold level for nitrogen
concentration that, if exceeded, would allow the plant to flower.

KN03 has growth regulatory properties in this tree crop (Bondad and Linsangan, 1979). Foliar application
of growth promoters has also been found to increase fruit retention in mango (Oosthuyse, 199Sa).
Increased nitrogen fertilization via the soil has, however, also been found to effect an increase in fruit but
more efficient application can be observed using spraying.

Nitrogen, a very principla component of KNO3 and the major element in Nitrate, in combination with
Oxygen is a macroelement that has an effect on the yield as it is a chlorophyll component and involved
in Nucleic acid synthesis and development of polyamines (www.yara.us, 2015). It was found important in
cell division of organs such as leaves, flower buds and fruits. In fruit setting, minimum amounts maintain
fruit filling and high sugar deposition.

References
BONDAD, N.D. AND M.E. LINSANGAN. 1979. Flowering in mango induced by potassium nitrate. Hort.Sci.
14:527-528.
PROTACIO CP, BUGANTE, RD, QUINTO J, MOLINAWE G AND PALEMO G. 2000. Regulation and Flowering
of Carabao Mango trees by Paclobutrazol. Philipp J Crop Sci. 25(1): 27-33.
OOSTHUYSE, S.A. 1995a. Effect of post-bloom aqueous spray application of GA3, NAA and CPPU on fruit
retention, fruit size, and yield in Tommy Atkins and Heidi mango. S.A. Mango Growers' Assoc. Yearbook
15:31-33.
PATHAK, RA and PANDEY RM. 1978. Changes in the chemical composition of mango (Mangifera indica L.)
leaves Cv. dashehari at different stages of flowering and fruit growth. In J Hort Sci.
PROTACIO, CM. 2000.
YESHITELA. 2004. Potassium nitrate and urea sprays affected flowering and yields of tommy atkins
mango in ethiopia. Retrieved from:
Floral Retention and Fruit Set in Mangifera indica
A laboratory report submitted by Alangelico O. San Pascual as partial requirement for Hort 230: Fruit Crop
Physiology under the supervision of Dr. Calixto M. Protacio

http://repository.up.ac.za/bitstream/handle/2263/23181/07chapter7.pdf?sequence=8.

Appendix
I: T test result s generated through SPSS for fruit set. (take note that values below 0.05 was
observed to be significant.
One-Sample Test
Test Value = 0
t df Sig. (2-tailed) Mean Difference 95% Confidence Interval of the
Difference
Lower Upper
Distilled water 4.495 17 .000 23.05556 12.2336 33.8775
KNO3 3.146 17 .006 12.22222 4.0268 20.4176

II: T test result s generated through SPSS for fruit set. (take note that values below 0.05 was
observed to be significant.
One-Sample Test
Test Value = 0
t df Sig. (2-tailed) Mean Difference 95% Confidence Interval of the
Difference
Lower Upper
Distilled water 2.004 2 .183 1.33467 -1.5316 4.2010
KNO3 2.629 2 .119 .88877 -.5656 2.3432