Flowering delay and quality of kent mango fruit in southern sinaloa, mexico

In Southern Sinaloa, 26,500 ha of mango are grown with the early-season Ataulfo and Tommy Atkins, intermediate-season Kent and late-season Keitt varieties. Despite this classification, the harvest of these varieties is concentrated in a short period of time during the months of June and July. It is considered that this phenomenon is caused by high temperatures during fruit growth. The aim of this research was to extend the harvest period of the Kent variety, the most cultivated in the region, with 48 % of the planted area. Two experiments were established in the municipalities of Escuinapa in 2018 and El Rosario in 2019, both in the state of Sinaloa, Mexico. Treatments were manual pruning and chemical pruning with ethephon (2-chloroethylphosphonic acid) at doses of 1.0 and 1.2 mL L-1 in panicles of the first flowering during anthesis stage, to induce a second flowering in axillary buds, the control were unpruned trees. Manual pruning delayed bloom between 40 and 42 d, and with chemical pruning the flowering delay was between 45 and 47 d. Harvest delay was 33 and 31 d, respectively. For each apical panicle pruned, 2.5 to 4.8 axillary panicles were formed. In 2018, the manual and chemical pruning of apical panicles produced fewer fruits, but larger than the control, which resulted in a more balanced production between treatments. In 2019 the unpruned control was more productive. Fruits of the control and trees pruned with ethephon 1.2 mL L-1 had the best performance in quality indicators firmness, total soluble solids (TSS) and the TSS/acidity ratio (SAR). It is concluded that flowering delay by manual or chemical etephone-pruning in panicles of the first bloom might be an alternative to delay the harvest in Kent mango with quality fruits.