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Neelum mango Photo: Sharath G. · Pexels License · source ↗

Neelum mango

Neelum (also spelt Neelam or Nilam) is a south Indian mango cultivar of Andhra Pradesh-Tamil Nadu origin and one of the principal late-season table mangoes of peninsular India. It is widely planted in the Chittoor mango cluster of Rayalaseema and across coastal Andhra, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Telangana, and is valued for its regular-bearing habit, strong aroma and late maturity that extends the harvest into July-August. Neelum is the female parent of several Indian mango hybrids — Mallika, Amrapali, Arka Aruna and Arka Anmol.

Key characteristics

  • Origin: Andhra Pradesh / Tamil Nadu
  • Bearing habit: regular bearer (an unusual virtue among Indian mangoes)
  • Fruit weight: 150-300 g
  • Shape: oval-ovate, with a distinct beak
  • Skin: bright yellow at maturity
  • Pulp: deep yellow, firm, fibreless, very sweet with pronounced floral aroma
  • TSS: 19-22 deg Brix
  • Season: late-season (June-August in south India; harvested up to August in Chittoor)
  • Keeping quality: very good — among the best for transport and storage

Cultivation

Neelum is propagated by veneer or softwood grafting on local mango seedling rootstock. Conventional spacings are 8-10 m, with high-density configurations (Mango Orchard Establishment Hdp) also adopted. Canopy training and pruning (Mango Canopy Training Pruning) and flowering management with paclobutrazol (Mango Flowering Management) are used in commercial orchards to maintain its late, regular-bearing character. The cultivar performs well across the dry to sub-humid agro-climatic zones of peninsular India.

Pest and disease profile

Neelum is moderately susceptible to mango hopper (Mango Hopper Amritodus Idioscopus), mealybug and stem borer. ICAR-CISH lists Neelum as susceptible to malformation (Mango Malformation Fusarium), powdery mildew (Mango Powdery Mildew) and anthracnose (Mango Anthracnose Colletotrichum) during humid flowering periods.

Adoption and use

Neelum is among the leading commercial cultivars of Chittoor district, where it is interplanted with Totapuri (Mango Totapuri) and Banganapalli (Mango Banganapalli Beneshan) to spread the harvest from early May to August. Chittoor's pulp-processing cluster — among the largest in India — relies on Neelum for late-season pulp production along with Totapuri. The fruit is also sold as a fresh table mango at a premium because of its aroma and shelf life. The variety has been used by ICAR-IARI and IIHR as the seed parent in several hybridisation programmes.

See also: Mango Mallika, Mango Banganapalli Beneshan, Mango Totapuri, Mango Himayat Himam Pasand, Mango Hopper Amritodus Idioscopus, Mango Malformation Fusarium.

Sources

  1. Mango cultivars. ICAR-CISH Lucknow.
  2. Improved mango varieties. ICAR-IIHR Bangalore.