Bwa-yo - Société Audubon Haiti

Mango 91
Blanc and Francisque, with their firm pulp, are considered for mango conserves; all
varieties are acceptable for mango juice.
Livestock, particularly pigs, consume excess quantities offruit and seed kernel that
are collected as feed. Proximate analysis of mango is shown in Table 11.2. In other
countries, the seed is roasted or boiled for human consumption and dried for flour
milling or processed for edible fats. The fruit skin is used as source of pectin. The bark
serves as a source oftannin, exhibiting antibacterial properties (Kerharo, 1974). Leaves
and roots are prepared in decoctions for liver problems, fever, lower back problems and
urethritis (Weniger, 1985). Latex of bark, leaves and fruit has an allergenic constituent
(3-pentadecyl catechol) that may cause dermatitis and itching in some people
(Campbell, 1992).
Table 11.2 Proximate analysis (% dry weight) of M. indica, from Gohl(1975).
COMPONENT CRUDE CRUDE CRUDE CARBO- ASH Ca P
PROTEIN FIBER FAT HYDRATES
Fresh leaves, India 80 280 2.7 51.2 100 23 10.0
Fresh leaves, Pakistan 9.5 22.6 4.8 50.0 13.1 3.1 0.2
Unripe fruit pulp, Nigeria 35.0 2.8 0.3 601 I 1.8 - -
Mature fruit pulp, Nigeria 56 23 0.5 894 22 - -
The heartwood is light pinkish brown, sometimes with black streaks, and is not
always clearly defined from the sapwood. Wood texture is coarse with an interlocked,
wavy grain that makes for only fair woodworking characteristics. The wood is moderately
heavy and hard, with a specific gravity between 0.45-0.62 (Chudnoff, 1984; Little
and Wadsworth, 1964). Though the wood is difficult to work, it is one of the most available
lumbers in Haiti, providing the widest planks for general construction purposes
(Fig. 11.5). Mango has become a major source of fuelwood to small urban industries,
such as bakeries, dry cleaners and raw rum distilleries (11.6), and of charcoal from
regions such as the Southwest and the Plateau Central (11.7).
Figure 11.6 Mango is a major fuelwood source
for guild industries such as the klerin (raw
rum) mills.
Propagation: Methods of mango
propagation in Haiti depend upon the
variety and resources of the farmer.
Traditional low-input methods are to
plant the seed directly on site or to
transplant volunteers for the commercial
varieties and leave volunteers
in place of germination for the lowvalued
varieties. Figure 11.8 compares
the traditional methods of
farmers in the Lascahobas region for
regeneration of mango. Occasionally,
coppice sho'ots are managed for a
second rotation if the tree has been
cut for wood or required space in the
garden.