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Banana

 

Growth stage specific nutrition management:

  • The nutrition requirement of 'Martaman' (AAB) banana at different growth stages (I to IV) with different nutrition levels (100, 80 & 60% of RDF/plant/crop, where RDF is 5 Kg FYM + 200g N + 40g P2O5 + 200g K2O) and time of application was worked out for economic input use and higher yield.

Bunch feeding technique:

  • Bunch feeding with 7.5g each of Urea and Sulphate of Potash (SOP) mixed with 250-300g cow dung slurry showed better finger filling and higher yield in 'Martaman' banana.

High Density planting in banana recommended:

  • High Density Planting (HDP: 5000 plants/ha) and desirable plant geometry of 3 plants/pit at 2 x 3 m spacing of pits in 'Martaman' banana (for optimum LAI of 6.4) are recommended with application of 75% RDF (where, RDF is N, P & K @ 200, 40 & 200 g/plant/crop) that resulted in 25% reduction to fertilizer input cost and upto 90% increase in productivity.

Management of Insect pest of banana:

  • Three new alternate host of banana scarring beetle were identified namely Colocasia esculenta, Amorphophallus campanulatus and Vitis trilobus.
  • Acephate 0.12% both spray and 20ml pour in heart were found effective against banana scarring beetle. Bunch covering, tilling and clean cultivation were also found to control this pest to some extent. Azadiractin 0.03% and Cartap hydrochloride 4G were also proved effective for the control of banana scarring beetle.
  • Out of 20 banana cultivars screened, maximum number of scars were recorded in Seeded banana -1 followed by Roskadali, Matti and Krishna Vazai.

Management of banana diseases:

  • Sigatoka like leaf spot disease can be minimized by clean cultivation, collection and destruction of infected leaves and spraying of fungicides e.g. propiconazole.
  • For panama wilt integrated management practices includes collection of healthy suckers from uninfected field, sucker treatment with carbendazim, uprooting and destruction of infected plant from the field, avoidance of ratoon cropping.
  • Other important diseases identified are bunchy top, rhizome rot and anthracnose of banana. Anthracnose along with some other post harvest diseases of banana can be minimized with proper care particularly at pre-harvest stage, which includes- pre-harvest application of thiobenzamidazole; avoidance of fruit injury during harvest, transport and storage