The latest issue of "Tropical Fruit News", March 1998, 32(3), includes an article titled "Fairchild Tropical Garden's Tropical Fruit Program" (pgs. 7-9) that provides a summary of a recent visit to the mango industry in South Africa, by Richard J. Campbell, Ph.D., of the Fairchild Tropical Garden, Miami, Florida. >From pg. 8 of the article: "There has been a successful breeding and selection program within the country directed towards their export markets in Europe...The emphasis in the selection program has been on a highly-colored, mild-flavored mango that is capable of storage up to four weeks. Productivity, disease tolerance and freedom from internal disorders has been a major selection priority." I would comment that a 4 week storage period is a LONG time. My experience with Florida mangos is that it takes about a week (or less) to ripen after picking, and they last about a week, maybe a bit more, in the refrigerator after they are ripe. Of course the motivating factor to develop a mango that can withstand 4 weeks in storage, is (presumably) to support the transportaion (by ship) of South African mangos to markets in Europe and elsewhere. This illlustrates that nutrition can be less important than the basic logistics of shipping to market, in plant breeding programs. (One will find similar situations with other fruit breeding programs). Tom Billings [log in to unmask]