Effect of practicing integrated crop management on yield and marketability of mango ( Mangifera indica L.) in Maragua district, Central Kenya.

摘要

Mango production in Kenya is hindered by constraints such as inferior cultivars, poor agronomic management and attack by diseases and insect pests. To address these constraints which have been identified in horticultural crop research priority setting under taken by Kenya Agricultural Research Institute, a multidisciplinary team of scientists was formed in year 2000 with an objective of validating the developed integrated crop management technologies on farmers' fields. Two sites with bearing mango trees were selected in Maragua, a district in Central Kenya, where most of improved mangoes for export market are grown. Twenty trees of four mango cultivars of Haden, Tommy Atkins, Ngowe and Kent were selected randomly in each site and managed using the developed Integrated Crop Management (ICM) a combination of appropriate nutrition and Integrated Pest Management methods. The farmers managed the rest of their trees in the orchard as usual. The farmers' practice was used as the control. This was carried out from the beginning of year 2000 up to year 2003. When the fruits were ready for harvesting, yield was measured in terms of fruit number per tree and then graded as either marketable or unmarketable fruits. There was significant difference between treated trees and non treated ones. The trees where integrated crop management was used yielded up to 4 times higher in one site than control for cultivar Tommy Atkins. Marketable fruits for cultivar Kent under ICM trees were 76.2% while the same cultivar under farmers' practice was only 48.5%.