2021 Volume 20 Issue 1 Pages 87-94
Mango ‘Aiko’ is a large-fruited and medium-late cultivar that has a stronger biennial-bearing nature than ‘Irwin’. In this study, we applied the intentional alternate bearing method, which has been practiced in citrus cultivation, to mango ‘Aiko’ and examined its applicability. Two treatments, alternate branch unit bearing and whole-tree annual bearing, were set up and compared with the control of the conventional method. Although there was no significant difference in the proportion of reproductive shoots between the control and two treatments, the proportion of reproductive shoots on ON-trees or ON-branches was consistently high. No significant difference was observed in yield between the control and treatments, while the mean fruit weight was significantly lower in both treatments compared with control fruits. The percentage of small fruits was higher in both treatments. With respect to work efficiency, it was shown that both alternate bearing methods could reduce the time required to prune a tree. On the other hand, the expression level of the MiFT gene was shown to be related to the biennial-bearing nature of ‘Aiko’, suggesting that it could be used to predict the number of flowers in the following season. Our results show that the intentional alternate bearing method for mango ‘Aiko’ is an effective method to control the fluctuation of yield and reduce labor while maintaining the same level of fruit quality and yield as the conventional method.
