Characterization of Mango 'Banilejo' (Mangifera indica L.) for Commercial Exploitation in the Dominican Republic

The 'Banilejo' mango is one of the most popular native crops in the Dominican Republic, both as fresh fruit and at the agroindustrial level, also being exported to the ethnic markets in the United States and Europe. It is produced in dispersed plants, organized farms for commercial exploitation are not existing (in the main zones of production: the provinces of Peravia and San Cristobal). The fruits present variations in morphological, organoleptic, and cultivated characteristics making the offer heterogeneous. During the years 2005-2008 we began the characterization and evaluation of different 'Banilejo' mango selections in order to standardize the characteristics of is offered in the local and international market. We proceeded in the same field to set different selections of 'Banilejo' mango made in 2000 in these two provinces. The materials used, obtained through asexual multiplication, were identified in accordance to their origins, arbitrarily with the following codes: 'BN1', 'BN2', and 'BN3' (Banilejos of Najayo, San Cristobal), 'ESC' (Escondido, Bani)", 'Bani-1', 'Bani-2' (both of Bani). The evaluations were performed in the EEFB of IDIAF. The results obtained during the multivariate analysis (MANOVA, Infostat, 2008) demonstrate that 'BN2', 'BN3', and 'Bani-1' have similarity between each other in the parameters of plant height, thickness of the cup, and diameter of the cup. Between 'ESC' and 'BN1' no statistical differences were demonstrated. Concerning the parameters percentage of flowering and inflorescence with fruits, 'BN1' presented the largest averages of 34.4 and 38.2% respectively for the first year of harvest, while in the second year of harvest 'ESC' (85% flowering) and 'BN1' (49.4% flowering) performed best in amount of inflorescences with fruits. Regarding average fruit weight, the following results were obtained: 'Bani-1', 150.4 g; 'Bani-2', 149.5 g; 'BN1', 189.5 g; 'BN2', 180.4 g; 'ESC', 170.6 g.