550 varieties of mangoes from single mango tree; Patel Akhand Bharat Mango tree named after Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel

THRISSUR: Anish is waiting to harvest 550 varieties of mangoes from the 'Sindooram' mango tree in his house premises. In three years, 550 mango tree shoots have been budded to the 'Sindhooram' mango tree planted by Anish nine years ago. 15 species have borne fruit already. The hope is that every variety will bloom and bear fruit together after two years.

MV Anish, a budding worker at Vellanikkara Agricultural University, hails from Thrissur West Vellanikkara. The 42-year-old man budded mango tree twigs that were collected from the Palakkad, Thrissur and Ernakulam districts.

Anish says that the process was like how Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel united the princely states. Hence, he named the mango tree as Patel Akhand Bharat Mango. Many known and unknown mango varieties including Chandrakaran, Perumpulissery, Priyoor, Kesar, Pulian, Natashala, Kottaparamban etc. have been budded to the tree. 200 species of mango trees were collected from Agricultural University.

Ravana in Rajbhavan

Anish, who studied Plus Two (VHSC) Agriculture, was inspired by Patel's quote, 'I know only one culture, and that is agriculture'. Anish's experimentation started 14 years ago when he budded ten mango trees into one mango tree and developed a tree under the name 'Ravanan'. Its sapling was planted in the courtyard of Raj Bhavan when P. Sadashivam was the Governor. He requested a sapling when he visited the Agricultural University. Anish wishes to add the name of this breed and be known as Anish Ravana.