Indian researchers have found that they can counter post-harvest mango wastage by tweaking certain genes in the fruit. They have identified the genes most prominently involved in the ripening of the juicy 'dashehri' variety.
India accounts for 42.06 percent of world's mango production but about a quarter is wasted due to faulty practices during harvesting, packaging and storage.
The development by the team from CSIR-National Botanical Research Institute (NBRI), Lucknow, could help change this and drive an uptick in export of the fruit in future. Their discovery could increase shelf-life through genetic manipulation or by marker-assisted breeding strategies wherein one can quickly screen and spot whether a favorable trait has been introduced from one mango variety into another.
"Every trait in a plant is determined by genes, the place and timing of their expression and the extent to which these are expressed," Vidhu Sane of NBRI, told IANS.
"For instance, genes responsible for ripening-related traits such as aroma, taste, color, softening and the like increase during ripening. Our studies tell us which genes are most prominently involved in these changes," explained Sane.
India exported only 41,000 tonnes of mangoes in 2013-14, as fresh fruit, accounting for about 0.4 percent of production.
"Its dominance as the largest producer is poorly translated into international trade. The practical applications of our study are in manipulating the genes that are responsible for loss of quality in mangoes which could increase their shelf-life," said Sane.
To drive home the point, Sane cited the dashehri variety, the subject of the study, as an example.
Dashehri is very popular in northern India as it is fibreless, delicious in taste with a mild aroma and has very high pulp content.
But there is a major roadblock when it comes to exports: The fruit's rapid and uneven ripening. It ripens from the stone towards the periphery.
"There is jelly formation in the pulp near the stone, at late ripe stage, although it looks firm and good from outside. By identifying the genes responsible for this and then crossing with varieties where the expression of these genes is reduced, one can develop varieties where jelly formation is reduced and shelf-life is increased. Alternatively, genetic manipulation of these genes may also suppress jelly formation in the centre and increase the shelf-life," said Sane.
