Trends in Biosciences 10(20), Print : ISSN 0974-8431, 4027-4029, 2017
Indigenous Traditional Knowledge (ITK) Documentation Associated with Mango
Landraces in the Kerala
HARI KUMAR V1, PARAMESWARAN, N. K2 AND DEVADAS, V.S3
1
Pomology and Floriculture, Kerala Agricultural University (KAU), Thrissur, Kerala
2
Dept. of Pomology and Floriculture, COH, KAU, Thrissur, Kerala
3
ADR seeds, Kerala Agricultural University, Thrissur, Kerala
email : hortihari@gmail.com
ABSTRACT
Indigenous knowledge is the knowledge of the people living
together in a certain area, generated by their own and
their ancestor’s experience including knowledge
originating from elsewhere which has been internalized
by the local people.It was associated with mango landraces
of the Pazhayannur region of Thrissur district of Kerala
is predominantly /exclusively related to preparation of
different products viz., Kadu manga, Uluva manga, Dry
mango pickle, Adamanga, Mampazha pulissery,
Chethumanga pickle (Instant Pickle), Mango stone powder
and Chakirimanga juice. The mango types ‘Puliyan’ is
extremely suited for the dry mango pickle. Mature ripe
Gomanga fruits are used for preparation of Chethumanga
pickle. Green fruits of pulimanga are used for instant
pickle preparation and ripe fruits are used for curry
preparations like pulissery. Chakiri manga fruits are used
for juice preparation in some villages. The storage life
was noticed three years in Kadu manga and dry mango
pickle, two years in ulava manga pickle. ITK was
documentedon tolerance to biotic stress, i.e, turpentine
flavoured mango fruits reported as minimum incidence of
stone weevil and fruit fly in comparison with the other
types
Key words Mango, ITK, Pulimanga, Landraces, Pickle
Indigenous knowledge is the knowledge of the people
living together in a certain area, generated by their own
and their ancestor’s experience including knowledge
originating from elsewhere which has been internalized by
the local people.
Kerala have typical humid tropical climate conditions
and mango gene pool consists mainly of the seedling races
of local types, predominantly grown in homesteads and as
avenue trees. Homestead with rich crop diversity is the
salient feature of Kerala villages. A wide variety of mango
cultivars are maintained by local communities for
commercial and domestic purposes (Kumar and Nair,
2006).Among the all cultivars of mango, Moovanadan is a
common cultivar of Thrissur district of central Kerala (Hari
kumar and Parameswaran, 2016)followed by Puliyan,
generally raised by seedlings. It was dominated in the
backyards of Pazhayannur panchayath of thrissur district
of Kerala (Renisha, 2012).
Indiscriminate tree felling for conversion of the land
into residential purposes and shifting crop priorities to
commercial crops like rubber have all resulted in an
unprecedented rate of genepool erosion in tree fruit crops
in Kerala. It has reached such an alarming proportion in
mango to the effect that much of the valuable landraces
widely found in the village homesteads have been lost and
what remaining are also in the brink of extinction.
Since traditional knowledge on fruits isbeing eroded
through acculturation and loss of plant diversity along with
indigenouspeople and their cultural background, promoting
or motivating local communities on conservation and
documentation of traditional knowledge on mango
landraces. It is crucial inorder to safeguard this information
for future societies.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
The study was conducted at Pazhaynnur region of
Thrissur district of Kerala during 2012-2016.Primary field
visits were conducted across the Pazhayannur region, as a
rapport buildingexercise with the local leaders and key
informants. Based on these key respondentinteractions and
focal group discussions [FGD] followed later, the potential
locationsfor undertaking the survey were earmarked.With
this, an attempt was made to document the indigenous
traditional knowledge and also noted that the local mango
landraces occupies a prime position in this regard and
associated with many- a – rural cuisine of this region.
Accordingly the available information collected from the
different villages is consolidated and presented in results.
Results/ ITK documentation
Indigenous Traditional Knowledge associated with
mango landraces of the region is predominantly /exclusively
related to preparation of different products. In all the
surveyed villages mango fruits at different stages of
maturity find use in many culinary items and preparation of
processed products.
Kadu manga/ Kadugu manga (Tender mango pickle)
Preparation of tender mango pickle, popularly known
as kadukumanga /kaduku manga is a systematic activity
taken up many village households of this region in which
the lead role taken by the elderly women after getting the
fruits harvested either from their own compounds or shared
from neighbourhood. The fruits are harvested with the
bunches at the marble stage of development. Normally
turpentine flavoured types are not preferred for this
preparation since flavor will interfere with the flavor of the
final product. After harvesting, the fruits are separated from
the bunches retaining half centimeter stalk along with, so
as to allow some sap in the retained stalk. The presence of
sap is supposed to act as preservative during storage. Fruits
are washed in water thereafter, and thoroughly wiped off
with cloth to remove completely the adhering moisture.
The fruits are placed further on a cloth spread on the floor.
Salt is added on weight basis (W/W) @ 20 % of weight
of fruits. Normally, powdered salt is used at present though
4028 Trends in Biosciences 10 (20), 2017
crystal salt was also used in earlier days. The contents will
be kept in chinese clay / plastic containers for storing the
product. Salt should be added in layers. Half the quantity is
spread as bottom and intercepting layers and remaining
half as the top layer. Normally vessels with narrow mouth
are used so as to have a minimum space exposed to the air
at top, which will also reduce spoilage. After 10-15 days
due to the osmotic release of water from the fruits, all the
fruits get shrunken and get immersed in the salt water
mixture. These fruits are taken out with a wooden ladle and
entire contents are transferred to wide flat basin like vessel.
The fruits are sorted thereafter to cull out the spoiled ones.
Assorted fruits with good shrinkage and appearance are
used for final product preparation. It will be added with
chilli powder, mustard powder at the right proportions. The
chilli powder is prepared after removing the stalk and seeds
- a practice further enhancing the storage life of the final
product. For every one kg weight of fruit 200 gm of chilli
powder and 100 gm mustard powder is added. While mixing
chilli powder and mustard powder, a small quantity of salt
water is also added to make it into diluted slurry. The entire
contents are mixed in this way with through stirring for
uniform blending.The contents are then transferred to
narrow mouth containers locally called as bharani. Both
white and black coloured ones are used for this purpose.
After transferring to the containers, plantain leaves coated
with gingelly oil are spread on the top surface. White cloth
soaked in gingelly oil is also used for this purpose. Such
oil coated material will provide an insulation for the product
from the outer air space. As far as possible the container
should be filled up to the brim.The mouth of the container
is then closed with a wooden lid. The lid will be tightly
fastened with a dry cloth and there after the top will be
protected with mud caps. In some places sand bags are
also used for this purpose. The preparedproduct can be
stored without spoilage and quality loss, for a minimum
period of three years. The quality, flavor etc., of the produce
gets excellent after the first year of storage.
Uluva manga (Fenugreek Pickle)
For the preparation of the product the fruits are
harvested when the stones get hardened. Normally fibrous
types preferred. As in the earlier case the fruits withhalf cm
stalks are separated from the bunches. Then they are
washed completely and drained off the excess moisture
from the surface and transferred to narrow mouthed bharani
and added with salt at the rate of 25 percent on weight
basis. After 3 weeks when the water is full on the top ,they
are sorted and transferred to basin like containers. Chilli
Harvest Fruits immersed in salt Fresh pickle
(Marble stage) water
Fig. 1. Kadu manga preparation
powder @ 100 gm and fried fenugreek powder @ 75 gms /
kg of fruits is then added which will form a thin slurry in due
course. The contents are then transferred to narrow necked
bharanies and stored. The prepared product will last at least
for two years without spoilage or quality loss.
Dry Mango Pickle
Preparation of dry mango pickle is also a common
feature of this region. Ripe mangoes collected from the local
types are dried in the sun after de-stoning during March –
April. Local juicy ‘Puliyan’ is extremely suited for the
purpose. These dried mangoes are later used for different
culinary preparations.Fully mature fruits of Muvandan are
also used for this purpose. Fruits are sliced into pieces and
dried under sun for two weeks. (It can be kept upto 3 years
without spoilage if stored in air tight containers). Such dried
slices are used for readymade pickles later during off season
of mangoes.
Mature ripe Gomanga fruits are used for preparation
of Chethumanga pickle. Green fruits of pulimanga are used
for instant pickle preparation and ripe fruits are used for
curry preparations like pulissery.
Adamanga
Adamanga’ is yet another preparation in households
of this region which is prepared from green mango in many
homesteads. The local type ‘Puliyan’ is typically suited.
Green mango will be cut without removal of skin and sun
dried.
Mampazha Pulissery
Mango fruits at firm ripe stage are used throughout
the region for this preparation. Chandrakaran and Puliyan
types are the most suited types.
Chethumanga Pickle (Instant Pickle)
Chethumanga pickle or instant mango pickle is yet
another preparation of the households of the region. Mango
Fruits at premature stage are used generally.Mature / ripe
Gomanga fruits are also used in some villages for this
purpose. The storage period the product is 6 months.
Mango stone powder
In an interesting observation we could also note
mango stone powder preparations in some villages of the
region. Extracted seed stones will be dried after cleaning in
lukewarm water and smeared with common salt and dried in
sun. In some cases the stones will be immersed in water for
3-4 days for removing the astringency before drying. The
Protected with mud Three years old pickle
caps
KUMAR et al., Indigenous Traditional Knowledge (ITK) Documentation Associated with Mango Landraces in the Kerala
Adding ingredients Chettumanga/ Instant pickle
Fig. 2. Preparation of instant pickle/Chethumanga pickle
dried stones will be powdered and stored and later taken
for different preparations including sweet appams.
Chakirimanga Juice
Chakiri manga fruits are used for juice preparation in
some villages.
Indigenous ripening methods
In the households, harvested fruits are ripened by
keeping them in bamboo baskets. Fruits will be spread on a
mat of paddy straw on the bottom side of the baskets and
further placed in layers with paddy straw placed in between.
Fruits will attain the typical shiny colour and flavor when
ripened in this way. In some hamlets paddy straw and leaves
of Cassia fistula(kanikonna) are used for this purpose. The
practice as reported by them helps in attaining attractive
colour during the ripening of fruits.
ITK as related to tolerance to biotic stress
During individual site visits and village group
meetings it was reported that the types with turpentine
flavoured fruits (Karpoora manga) showed minimum
incidence of stone weevil and fruit fly in comparison with
the other types.
4029
Traditional stored vessel
CONCLUSION
Indigenous Traditional Knowledge (ITK) associated
with mango landraces of the region is predominantly /
exclusively related to preparation of different products viz.,
Kadu manga, Uluva manga, Dry Mango Pickle, Adamanga,
Mampazha Pulissery, Chethumanga pickle (Instant Pickle),
Mango stone powder, Chakirimanga juice. ITK as related
to tolerance to biotic stress, viz., turpentine flavoured mango
fruits reported as minimum incidence of stone weevil and
fruit fly in comparison with the other types.
LITERATURE CITED
Hari Kumar, V. and Parameswaran, N.K. 2016. Diversity mapping
and characterization of mango ecotypes of Moovandan .
Advances in life sciences. 5 (12), 5240-5245.
Kumar BM and PKR Nair 2006. Tropical Homegardens: A Time-
Tested Example of Sustainable Agroforestry, Springer, UK.
Renisha, M. 2012. Bio diversity analysis of traditional mango types
of Kerala and studies on the reproductive biology of selected
popular varieties. M.Sc Thesis. Kerala Agricultural University,
Thrissur. 89p.
Received on 19-05-2017 Accepted on 23-05-2017