Lucknow, UTTAR PRADESH :
Lucknow :
Yogi mango is latest product from the laboratory of UP’s Mango Man. Three years after Haji Kalimullah christened a mango after PM Narendra Modi he has now named another after UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath. The 74-year old Padmashri recipient, Haji Kalimullah is excited about the new variety in his orchard in Malihabad, about 30kms from Lucknow.
It’s the first time the variety named by him has not been developed by the man himself, rather, has grown naturally in his orchard. In all likelihood, it appears to be a cross of another naturally developed variety, ‘Karela’ and Dussehri.
“The Yogi mango is slender, elongated and beautiful and you won’t stop marvelling when you see it,” said Kalimullah. But the hybrid’s parent is not know even to him. “Some people visited my orchard recently and while they were looking around they asked about these four five different-looking mangoes on a tree. I said the variety might have developed naturally and they suggested to name it after Yogiji and I did,” he said.
This time, however, Kalimullah has named the variety a little earlier than usual. On all other occasions on which he developed a new variety, he waited for the fruit to ripen to know its taste and smell.
“I am still not sure how this mango is going to taste as it is green and the same can be said about how it would smell. But I hope it will taste good as it is a hybrid of Dussehri,” he said, adding that it will take about a month for the fruit to ripen.
Meanwhile, the tree bearing Modi mango has some fruits on it this year too. “Modi mango is exceptional in taste and very nice to look at,” said Kalimullah. It’s a hybrid of Kolkata’s Husn-e-Aara and Lucknow’s Dussehri. No wonder, the fruit has acquired distinct streaks of crimson like Husn-e-ara and elongation of Dussehri.
Kalimullah’s technique is different when it comes to developing a new variety. “I cross flowers, develop a fruit and then sow its seeds because every seed is different and that is how the best variety develops,” he said.
It’s anything but easy. About 99% experiments have gone waste. The few that survived brought the man recognition. He has named the hybrid of Khasul Khaas and Chausa weighing up to 1 kg after Sachin Tendulkar. He has also named one variety named after Aishwarya.
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News> City News> Lucknow News / TNN / May 07th, 2017