Disease affecting mango yields

Pakistan's mango produce suffering from 'the mango sudden death syndrome' every year.

FAISALABAD: Pakistan was losing a significant portion of its mango produce every year to the mango sudden death syndrome (MSDS), Dr Iqrar Ahmad Khan, the UAF vice chancellor, told the audience on Wednesday.

He was addressing a seminar on Recent Advances in Aetiology and Management of Mango Sudden Death Syndrome at the University of Agriculture.

Khan said that about 1.80 million tons of mangoes were produced in Pakistan every year over an area of 164,000 hectares.He said that the MSDS could be effectively tackled by conducting research on genetically resistant germplasm.

He said that he had been undertaking research on MSDS for several years in Oman and Pakistan. His research, he said, was focused on finding ways to build resistance against the syndrome during the early stages of its diagnosis.

He said that the Punjab Agricultural Research Board was funding a project on indigenous mango germplasms useful for building resistance against the MSDS. The project was a joint venture of the UAF, the Bahuddin Zakariya University of Multan and Sultan Qaboos University of Oman.

He said that research in Brazil and Oman has already identified resistance sources and varieties less susceptible to the disease.

He said that changes in land use patterns in the country over the last many decades have negatively affected the indigenous mango varieties. He said that a large amount of genetic material was stil undiscovered in mango growing areas of the Punjab and southern Azad Jammu and Kashmir. This material, he said, could help in finding a cure of the MSDS.

He said that the UAF would very soon start a degree programme in microbiology. The programme would help initiate research on fruits and vegetables crops at the micro level.

Dr Ali Al-Adawi, a plant pathologist at Ghadafan Agriculture Research Station in Oman, said that Oman was producing 10,000 tons mangos yet it had to import it form Pakistan and India to meet the demand. He said that in Oman around 0.2 million mango trees had died owing to the MSDS.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 29^th, 2010.