Mango

Mango is the most important tropical fruit in the world in terms of production and consumption. It is consumed in many ways as fresh fruit, after cooking or pickling. The species is highly heterogeneous in respect of tree and fruit characters and harbors vast diversity both at interspecific and intraspecific levels. Many of the wild Mangifera species already appear in the red list, mainly due to human activities and lately due to the changing climatic conditions. The wild populations and landraces of mango are treasures of genetic wealth, distributed across the globe, and are being conserved through both in situ and ex situ approaches. Identification of beneficial characters in the wild and cultivated populations, through morphological, biochemical, and molecular approaches and their incorporation in the cultivated varieties facilitate better crop performance and fruit quality. We briefly describe various aspects of mango diversity, its conservation, utilization, and some future perspectives in this chapter.