Mango, the king of fruits, is the National Fruit of India in India. Mango is being cultivated in our country for about 4000 years. It originated most probably in the plains of north-eastern states of India or Burma.

Mango fruits are delicious in taste, nutritive and very rich in vitamin A. Three are about 1000 varieties of mango. Among them the most popular varieties are langra, dusheri, alfonso, himsagar, fazli, chousa, totapuri, bombai, ranipasand, golapkhas, etc.

Mango fruit is mainly cultivated in the plains. It cannot grow in extreme climate. It is susceptible to frost, but can stand fairly dry weather and heavy rainfall. It prefers deep sandy loam, fertile soil. The chief mango producing states are Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra.

Mango is an evergreen, dicotyledonous tree. It is a perennial tree with roundish canopy. The stem is woody and hard. It has a distinct trunk and many branches. Its root system is deep and extensive. The leaves are simple and green in color. Young leaves are coppery red in color. Green flower clusters appear at the end of winter. In a cluster, there are numerous tiny flowers, most of which fall off and only a few remain to grow into mature fruits. The flowers turn into mature fruits after 4-5 months, usually in summer-rains. Fruits are juicy with leathery skin and a big seed. The seeds remain viable for about a month.