Polyembroic Vs Monoembryonic Mango Tree - Ask Extension
I have three Mango trees are about 2 1/2 years old. I believe my plants are monoembryonic. I would like to know if the fruit it will eventually produc...
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Polyembroic Vs Monoembryonic Mango Tree #655495
Asked June 24, 2020, 1:22 PM EDT
I have three Mango trees are about 2 1/2 years old. I believe my plants are monoembryonic. I would like to know if the fruit it will eventually produce is edible or what does it mean to have a monoembryonic tree?
Polk County Florida
Expert Response
Hi, a monoembryonic tree produces seeds that are created by pollination, which means the new mango tree will be different from the parent tree. It may still produce good fruit, but that isn't guaranteed. Polyembryonic trees have seeds that contain multiple embryos, so there will be seedlings that are genetic clones of the parent tree and then one that was produced by pollination and therefore won't be like the parent tree. That is why polyembrionic trees are good. I hope that explanation makes sense!
Here is a link https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/pdffiles/MG/MG21600.pdf to our bulletin on Mangoes and on page 2 they discuss propagation by seed.
By grafting my monoembryonic tree, will this give me a guarantee to high quality mango fruit?
No, because grafting it onto a different root stock won't affect the flavor of the fruit and you won't know until the monoembryonic tree is large enough to produce fruit if that fruit is good or not. You can look on the internet for polyembryonic mango cultivars and then grow them. That way you can start new trees from seed. With monoembryonic trees, you will have to grow a lot of seeds, until they produce fruit, to see if the fruit is delicious or not!
