Mango Fruit Quality Improvements in Response to Water Stress: Implications for Adaptation Under Environmental Constraints
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Horticultural Science (Prague), 48, 2021 (1): 1–11 Original Paper https://doi.org/10.17221/45/2020-HORTSCI Mango fruit quality improvements in response to water stress: implications for adaptation under environmental constraints Víctor Hugo Durán Zuazo1*, Dionisio Franco Tarifa2, Belén Cárceles Rodríguez1, Baltasar Gálvez Ruiz1, Pedro Cermeño Sacristán3, Simón Cuadros Tavira4, Iván Francisco García-Tejero3 1IFAPA Centro “Camino de Purchil”, Granada, Spain 2Auntamiento de Almuñécar, Almuñécar, Spain 3IFAPA Centro “Las Torres”, Sevilla, Spain 4Departemento de Ingeniería Forestal, Universidad de Córdoba, Córdoba, Spain *Corresponding author: [email protected] Citation: Durán Zuazo V.H., Franco T.D., Cárceles R.B., Gálvez R.B., Cermeño S.P., Cuadros T.S., García T.I.F. (2021): Mango fruit quality improvements in response to water stress: implications for adaptation under environmental con- straints. Hort. Sci. (Prague), 48: 1–11. Abstract: Mediterranean farming is facing increasing periods of water shortage and, in the coming decades, the water reduction is expected to exert the most adverse impact upon growth and productivity. This study was performed to assess the response of the physico-biochemical quality parameters of mango fruits to different doses of irrigation in a Mediterranean subtropical area in Spain. During two-monitoring seasons, trees were subjected to deficit-irrigation strategies receiving 33, 50, and 75% of a crop evapotranspiration (ETC), and a control at 100% ETC. According to the findings and respect to control, the yield was reduced in 8, 11, and 20% for the water-stressed trees at 75, 50, and 33% ETC, respectively, producing smaller fruits in line with the amount of applied irrigation. However, the water-stressed fruits significantly enhanced their quality, in particular at 33% ETC, with regards to the content of the health-promoting phytochemicals (total soluble solids, vitamin C, and β-carotenoids). Thus, sustainable water management without a detrimental effect on the yield could be possible, and farmers should be encouraged to adapt to the environmental constraints, producing improved quality fruits. Keywords: mango fruit; physico-biochemical fruit parameters; sustainable water-savings; subtropical farming; water shortage The mango (Mangifera indica L.), is a large ever- Litz 2009). Nowadays, it is cultivated from the tropics green tree, and belongs to the Anacardiaceae family, and subtropics up to the northern latitudes of 35–37° which originated in the foothills of the Himalayas in in the south of Spain (Galán, Lu 2018). southern Asia bordering the Bay of Bengal (Bom- The quality performance of mango fruits depends pard 2009). The varieties that evolved in the tropi- on external and internal quality parameters. That is, cal areas have seeds with several genetically identical the internal quality attributes comprise a uniform embryos (poly-embryonic) and oppositely, mangos and intense flesh colour, and contain adequate acid- that developed in the subtropical areas of the Indian ity, vitamins, and a pleasant sweetness (Kader 2002). sub-continent are mono-embryonic (Mukherjee, Mangos contain both provitamin A carotenoids, Partly funded by the research Project: “Innovations for sustainability, productivity, and improvement of subtropical crops (mango and cherimoya)” (PP.AVA.AVA2019.38) and co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), Internal call for Research Projects and Technological Innovation for the period 2019–2022. 1 Original Paper Horticultural Science (Prague), 48, 2021 (1): 1–11 https://doi.org/10.17221/45/2020-HORTSCI such as α-carotene, β-carotene, and γ-carotene; monitored the alterations in the mango (cv. Osteen) and oxygenated carotenoids (xanthophylls), such fruit quality parameters due to water stress by sub- as β-cryptoxanthin, violaxanthin, auroxanthin, ne- jecting the mangos to different deficit irrigation oxanthin, among others (Palafox et al. 2012). strategies under a subtropical Mediterranean cli- In the European Mediterranean basin, concretely mate in south-east Spain. in Spain, and according to ESYRCE (2018), the area devoted to subtropical crops is approximately 4.3% MATERIAL AND METHODS of the total surface with fruits trees, and 2.2% of the total production. The subtropical fruits are mainly Experimental site. The experiment was execut- established in the coast of Malaga and Granada, ed over two-growing seasons (2018–2019) in Al- and in the Canary Islands. In this sense, in 2018, muñécar, the Granada coast (SE Spain, 36°48′00”N, there were 4 276 ha of irrigated mangos in Spain 3°38′0”W). According to Elias and Ruiz (1977), of which 3 994 ha were located in Andalusia. On the local temperatures are subtropical to semi- the other hand, the cultivars most used by farmers hot within the Mediterranean subtropical cli- are the Florida cultivars, such as Osteen, Keitt, Tom- matic category, and has an average annual rainfall my Atkins, among others, also being the most used of 449.0 mm. The shallow soils formed from weath- by the main mango producing countries (Durán et ered slates, vary in depth, and some are rocky, pro- al. 2003; Durán, Franco 2006; Gentile et al. 2019). viding generally very good drainage, and are classi- The expansion and intensification of land use in ag- fied as a typical xerorthent, with 684, 235, and 81 g/kg riculture have promoted an increase in the water de- of sand, silt and clay. mand, especially in the Mediterranean area (Durán The experimental mango plantation is located on et al. 2013; García, Durán 2018), as well as in other terraces that are commonly found in the area (Fig- regions (Ali et al. 2017). In this sense, a water short- ure 1A). Each platform had a single row of 16-year- age is one of the most important environmental con- old mango trees (Mangifera indica L. cv. ‘Osteen’ straints on fruit woody crops and limits the produc- grafted onto ‘Gomera-1’) (Figure 1B), healthy and tivity, and, consequently, the economic development. uniform in size, and spaced 3 m apart. Three deficit- Despite the relative tolerance of mangos to drought, irrigation strategies that received 33%, 50%, and 75% the needed production can only be achieved by irri- of the ETC, compared with a control of fully irrigated gation (Durán et al. 2003; Galán, Lu 2018). trees at 100% ETC, were studied. To estimate the ir- All these challenges need a persistent effort to im- rigation requirements, the reference evapotranspira- prove the agronomical practices and response to the tion (ET0) was calculated according to the Penman- environmental constraints. Thus, in this study, we Monteith methodology, using local crop coefficients (A) (B) Figure 1. Orchard terraces with a mango plantation (A) and cv. ‘Osteen’ mango trees (B) 2 Horticultural Science (Prague), 48, 2021 (1): 1–11 Original Paper https://doi.org/10.17221/45/2020-HORTSCI Figure 2. Field measurements of the polar (A) and equatorial (B) diameter in the mango fruits (A) (B) KC previously defined in the studied area (Rodríguez The vitamin C (ascorbic acid) content was mea- et al. 2011). The experimental design was a completely sured following the procedure of redox titration us- randomised block design with three replications per ing an iodine solution (UC 2019). The profile of the treatment. Each replication had eleven trees, the five carotenoids was determined by high-performance central trees of the rows were used for measurements liquid chromatography (HPLC), and extracted with of the fruit yield and the others served as border trees. acetone and saponification with KOH (10% in meth- Physical fruit quality measurements. n the stud- anol). The extract was evaporated (Fisatom Model ied trees, five fruits were selected for the growth 801) (T < 25°C) and stored (–18°C) for quantifica- measurements (polar and equatorial diameters), tion by HPLC (Mercadante, Rodríguez 1998). Simi- using a digital calliper throughout the production larly, the anthocyanins were determined by taking cycle (Figure 2). The mango fruits were harvest- the fruit sample previously homogenised in an Ul- ed at the pre-climacteric hard-green stage, thirty tra- Turrax with acidified methanol (HCl 1%) and healthy fruits free from diseases and insect infes- then quantified by HPLC (Zanatta et al. 2005). tation were selected, determining their weight and An analysis of variance (ANOVA) using a statisti- size. The fruits were stored at 12ºC and 85–90% rela- cal analysis package (Statgraphics Centurion XVIII) tive humidity until they reached the proper matu- was performed in order to ascertain the differenc- rity level (~ 8–10 days) (Salunkhe 1984). The man- es in the fruit quality parameters. The differences go fruits were peeled and the pulp, seed, and peel were tested using the least significant difference separated, and each fraction was weighed. Moreo- test (LSD) at a P < 0.05 level. In addition, the linear ver, the texture parameter was measured through a functions were adjusted between the fruit growth fruit penetrometer (PCE-PTR 200) with crossheads and the days of the year. of 6 and 8 mm. Ten fruits were used to determine the colour [L*, a*, b* and hue angle (h°)]. The peel RESULTS AND DISCUSSION colour and pulp colour of the fruits were measured using a MINOLTA CM-700d spectrophotometer Fruit growth and physical parameters. Figure 3 (Minolta CO. Tokyo, Japan) and according to the shows the growth of the fruits in response to the procedure by McGuire (1992). irrigation strategies applied during the monitor- Biochemical fruit quality measurements. The ing period. In general, the fruit growth was rela- total soluble solids (TSS) were examined by taking tively slow at the early stages, was faster at the pulp samples previously homogenised in a blender rapidly expanding stage, and slowed down at the (a few drops) with a refractometer as Brix degrees maturity stage. The water stress repercussions on (AOAC 1984). The titratable acidity (TA) was mea- the fruit growth were explicitly perceptible with sured in the pulp by titrating against NaOH.