Senior Scientist ICAR- Central Institute for Subtropical Horticulture Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India
Body of Abstract: Physiological disorders associated with mango (Mangifera indica L.) may cause enormous losses by reducing the quality of the fruits thereby affecting their consumer acceptability. The problem of pulp tissue softening around the stone (Jelly seed) is very high in one of the leading India variety i.e. Dashehari. Hence, an experiment was conducted in order to quantify the incidence and associated mechanism of jelly seed formation. In this study, mango fruits were harvested at weekly interval starting from 1st week of June to last week of June. Manual (cut with sharp knife) and non- destructive method (X-ray) were used in order to detect the jelly seed incidence in mango. The higher incidence of JS was noticed in the late harvested and tree ripened fruits. Further, the sugar content was higher in Jelly seed fruits as compared to healthy fruits which may be attributed to rapid breakdown or conversion of starch and ascorbic acid into sugars. Further the content of calcium (Ca++) was lesser in jelly seed fruits as compared to healthy fruits, indicating the distortion of pectin matrix. Moreover the activity and expression of hydrolyzing enzymes i.e. Polygalacturonase (PG) and PME was higher in JS fruit pulp as compared to healthy fruits. Moreover, it was observed that the jelly seed affected tree ripened fruits have pre-harvest germination events inside fruits, while no such event was noticed in non-jelly fruits. Further, hormonal variations were also observed in terms of higher GA3 and IAA level in seed kernel of jelly fruits, indicating the activation of embryo for germination. Overall, the mechanism of jelly seed formation involved a series of events that evident from various observations at physiological and molecular level. In order to harness quality fruits of mango management options need to be explored.