Coming up: Mango museum on city outskirts soon
The king of fruits will soon have a befitting museum dedicated to it on the outskirts of the state capital in the heart of the mango belt here.
Indeed, such a mango museum is coming up at the Central Institute for Subtropical Horticulture (CISH) office at Rehmankhera in the Kakori block of Lucknow. It is likely to be ready by the end of the mango season. CISH is developing the museum so that the visitors can learn about the varieties, medicinal value, products, history and little-known facts about the fruit.
“The museum will have more than 800 varieties as a model or a photograph with interesting descriptions. Not only Indian, but also the varieties dominating the international market will be displayed,” said Shailendra Rajan, CISH director.
The institute had one of the largest live collections of mango varieties, but one could not see them after the fruiting season, he said.
“Mango (tree) is considered to
provide certain anti-viral, antibacterial, anti-carcinogenic bioactive compounds and a few of them have been found to be reported effective in immunityboosting against the coronavirus,” he added.
“A database containing details of the medicinal properties of phytochemicals can be accessed in the museum. A description of important products made from mango and the nutritive value of the king of fruits will also be depicted,” Rajan said.
A large number of recipes are available in which mangoes are used at the raw or ripe stages. One can see the details of these useful recipes in the museum, he said. A portion of the museum will depict the numerous pests and diseases that attack the mango.
Rajan said the museum would help in explaining several unrevealed facts about the mango. This will be of interest not only to children but also to the farmers, he said.
National Mango Database will be connected to one of the panels of the museum. The museum was supposed to have become functional during the current mango season but got delayed due to the Covid-19 situation.
The CISH director also said, “More than a hundred stamps depicting the mangoes have been issued by about 80 countries. A corner with these stamps and details will be an attraction for the visitors, mainly people interested in philately.”
Considered a heritage tree of India, a lot of history, mythology culture, religion, and other social aspects are associated with the mango. The major mango-producing areas of the country and the world, statistics, and other intresting facts will be depicted with various audiovisuals explaining their economic importance.