200 mango varieties in a single tree!

CHAPAINAWABGANJ, Jan 31 (UNB): Saplings of 200 varieties of mangoes have been grafted in an aging mango tree on the Circuit House premises of Chapainawabganj district.

Old branches of the tree have been pruned before the grafting, officials involved in the experiment said recently.

The grafted new branches have already grown leaves, the officials said hoping that the new varieties will be available for plucking in the next season of the juicy fruit.

According to district administration sources, a few months ago, two hundred varieties of mangoes were grafted on an old mango tree.

Stalks have been collected from Chapainawabganj Regional Horticulture Research Center, Manamina Agricultural Farm and from farmers.

They believe the tree itself will be a unique exhibition of mangoes and it might even get listed in the Guinness Book of World Records.

When this correspondent visited the site he saw the tree with 200 stalks carrying name of each variety.

Abu Saleh Mohammad Yusuf Ali, a scientific officer at the Chapainawabganj Regional Horticulture Research Center, said that he had provided 20 rare mango species stalks for grafting.

"There is no tough equation whether a tree will have 200 varieties of mango or not. Because the more grafting will be done on a tree, the more varieties of mango will grow. The key concern here is proper grafting and the right manner of collecting stalks."

Germplasm of the varieties will be preserved in one tree as result of this initiative. So, it will be easy for students and researchers to collect samples from one place.

However, the business potential of such an initiative is very low, he added.

Mozammel Hossain, a gardener at the Circuit House, said, "The old tree had a declining production. It was not of even a good variety. So, DC Sir decided to prune the tree and graft 200 varieties in it. New leaves have already started growing on grafted stalks".

Nazrul Islam, deputy director of the Department of Agricultural Extension, said, "The initiative would further spread the reputation of the region as a mango growing hub".

Manjurul Hafeez, the former DC who recently left Chapainawabganj, said that he took this initiative to preserve scattered species of mangoes in one place.

Recently, the district administration recognised various species of mangoes scattered across the district. Preserving these newly recognised species besides traditional ones, this initiative was taken, he said.

He claimed that nowhere in the world there is a mango tree with so many varieties.