Mango

Mango is a crop of economic importance in Tamil Nadu, India with cultivation covering 1,327,000 hectares in within this state with a net income of ~$6500 (USD) per hectare per annum. The field site network consisted of 16 sites – the eight control sites having bare ground and eight sites with existing weeds being initially tested as floral interventions (see map below). Due to covid induced restriction other floral interventions could not be tested in the first field season, but we intend to have a second season in early 2022 to test whether the inclusion of sesame as floral interventions can boost pollinator numbers in mango orchards.

Gallery: A few photos from our site network taken before and during our field seasons

Meeting with mango growers

Meet the team - mango orchard

Field researchers making bags for pollination exclusion experiment 2

Bagging Mango infloresence

exclusion experiments on mango2

Pollination exclusion experiments on mango

Weed flora in mango orchards

Mango orchards with weeds

Mango orchards with natural weeds

Mango orchards with bare ground

Hoverfly on weeds in mango orchards

Honeybee on weeds in mango orchards

Field assistants checking weed flora

Blue fly on mango infloresence