Mango fruit set and drop: A comprehensive review

• Poor fruit set and excessive fruit drop are key challenges in the global mango industry. • Inadequate pollination, fertilisation and unfavourable climatic conditions lead to poor fruit set. • Mango fruit drop is mainly controlled by PGRs and environmental factors. • This review provides critical insights for improving fruit set and retention in mango. Insufficient fruit set and excessive fruit drop are key challenges faced within the global mango ( Mangifera indica L.) industry, affecting yield consistency and grower’s income as well as adversely impacting global mango trade. Rising temperature regimes and extreme weather events at critical stages of fruit set and development are among the primary driving factors behind these extremely devastating issues in the mango industry. Scientific interventions aimed at regulating fruit set and drop have become increasingly important. Inadequate pollination and fertilisation can also cause poor fruit set, whilst self-incompatibility and stenospermocarpy can cause fruit drop in mango. Mango fruit set and drop are mainly controlled by plant hormones such as auxins, cytokinins, gibberellins, polyamines, and ethylene, all of which are influenced by changes in the environment and other biotic or internal signals. This review focuses on the impact of plant growth regulators and nutrients, such as auxins, gibberellins, cytokinins, brassinosteroids, tryptophan, boron, sucrose, putrescine, aminoethoxyvinylglycine (AVG), cobalt sulphate (CoSO₄) and emerging genetic and omics approaches on mango fruit set and fruit drop. The impacts of major environmental conditions and agronomic practices affecting fruit set and drop were also analysed. This review provides critical insights for improving mango fruit set and retention in the current era of climate change. Despite numerous worldwide studies on these factors individually, a comprehensive compilation of their positive influences and limitations on fruit set and drop is lacking. This review bridges this gap by synthesising current research, clarifying the benefits and drawbacks of existing methods to modulate mango fruit set and retention, and proposing potential solutions to address these challenges in the global mango industry.