BANANA PACKAGE OF PRACTICES

INTRODUCTION

Banana (Musa sp.) is the second most important fruit crop in India next to mango. Its year round availability, affordability, varietal range, taste, nutritive and medicinal value makes it the favourite fruit among all classes of people. It has also good export potential.

Hi-tech cultivation of the crop is an economically viable enterprise leading to increase in productivity, improvement in produce quality and early crop maturity with the produce commanding premium price.

Varieties

Dessert 
Robusta, Dwarf Cavendish, Grand Naine, Rasthali, Vayal vazhai, Poovan, Nendran, Red Banana, Karpooravalli, Co.1, Matti, Sannachenkadali, Udayam and Neypoovan are popular varieties in banana. Cavendish groups are generally prefered in export market.

Culinary 
Monthan, Vayal vazhai, Ash Monthan and Chakkia are cultivated for culinary purpose. Nendran is a dual purpose variety used for dessert and culinary.

Hill areas

The popular varieties of bananas suitable for hilly areas are Virupakshi, Sirumalai and Namarai. Red Banana, Manoranjitham (Santhana vazhai) and Ladan are also cultivated in hills.

Soil:

• The soil should be tested before banana cultivation.
• The soil should have good drainage, adequate fertility and moisture.
• Deep, rich loamy  and salty clay loam soil with pH between 6-7.5 is most preferred for banana cultivation.
• Extreme clayey, Sandy soil, Saline soil and Calcareous soil is not suitable for Banana cultivation.
• A soil that is not too acidic & not too alkaline, rich in organic material with high nitrogen content, adequate phosphorus level and plenty of potash are good for banana.

Preparation of land:

Plough the land thoroughly atleast for 3-4 times and add about 10 tonnes of well rotten FYM or Compost during last plough and mix it well or add 10-15 kg FYM/ Compost per pit of 60x60x60 cm dimension.

Selection of Suckers:

• Select ‘Sword Suckers’ with broad corm with narrow sword like leaves, from viral, fungal and bacterial disease free mother plants.
• The suckers should be 3-5 months old, uniform in size, weighing 1-1.5 kg for Nendran, Rasthali, Ney Poovan and Poovan Banana varieties.
• For long duration varieties like Karpuravalli and Red Banana, slightly big suckers weighing 1.5-2.0 kg should be used.
• For planting of ‘Tissue Culture’ plants, the secondary hardened plant should be about 30 cm tall, 5 cm girth with atleast five fully opened healthy leaves and true to type.

Sucker Treatment and planting:

• The selected suckers should be ‘pared’ by trimming of all the roots along with surface layers superficially to remove any rotten portion of the corm.
• Dip the pared suckers in 0.2% Carbendazim (2g/litre of water) solution for about 15 –20 minutes as a prophylactic measure against Fusarium wilt disease.
• Keep the treated suckers in shade overnight before planting. Plant the suckers in the center of the pit and press the soil around the suckers firmly.
• Apply 40 g of Carbofuron granules per pit to protect the plants against nematode attack and irrigate the field thoroughly.
• In case of tissue culture plants, one week before planting apply 10 g Carbofuron and 1.0 % bleaching powder or 0.2 % Emissan in 100 ml water as drench into the polythene bags to protect against nematode infestation and bacterial rot (Erwinia Rot) disease respectively.

Method of planting

• Pit Method
• Furrow Method
• Trench Planting

Pit Method

• Pit planting is commonly followed in garden land system of cultivation. Pits of 60 cm x 60 x 60 cm x 60 cm size are dug, filled with a mixture of soil, sand and FYM (Farm Yard Manure) in a 1:1:1 ratio. Suckers are planted in the centre of the pit and soil around is compacted.
• Planting is done from February to May whereas in North India, it is done during July-August. In South-India, it can be done any time of year except summer.This is mostly followed in biennial plantations for Dwarf Cavendish, Rasthali, Robusta, Poovan and Karpuravalli banana.
• However this method is very laborious and expensive. The only advantage is that no earthing up is required as planting is done at the required depth. This practice is not very popular at present.

Furrow Method

• In Gujarat and Maharashtra, furrow planting is practised. After land preparation, 30-40 cm deep furrows are made, either manually or with a ridger.
• Suckers are placed at required spacing; FYM is applied around, mixed with soil and tightly packed round the suckers.
• Furrow planting is practised in annual panting system. In this method earthing up needs to be frequently done to cover the exposed rhizomes.

Trench Planting

• Trench planting is practised in wet land cultivation of Cauvery delta region of Tamil Nadu. Land is prepared like paddy using plenty of water and gauge wheel.
• Water is drained from the field allowing setting for a day. Planting is done by simple pressing the suckers into the wet field.
• After a week 15 cm deep trenches are opened both ways maintaining 4 or 6 plants in each block.
• Deepening of trenches by 20-25 cm is taken up every month after planting till suckers put forth 1-3 leaves.
• During third month trenches are broadened and deepened to 60 cm. in rainy season some trenches are used as drainage channels. After about 2 months, trenches are cleaned; decayed manure is used for plants for organic cycling.

High Density Planting

• High Density Planting (HDP) is normally refers to planting at a spacing than the usual recommended spacing.
• Choosing the correct planting density is very important for bridging the gap between the actual yield and the potential yield of banana from a unit area.
• For the highest possible yields of good quality fruit, there is an optimum plant density, which should be maintained for sustaining the economic life of the plantation.
• This optimum varies with the location, cultivator, soil fertility, management level and economic considerations.
• These factors in turn influence more specific determinants of density choice such as prevailing climate, plantation vigour and its longevity.

Plant canopy and light intersection

• Unlike other fruits, the vegetative growth, flowering and fruit growth is not seasonal in banana and are largely influenced by time of planting, type and size of planting material and prevailing temperature.
• Planting density and their interception. Reduced light intensity at ground level with increase in size energy conversion efficiency was maximum in 1.2 x 1.2m spacing and minimum in 2.1 x 2.1m spacing.

Water management

• Banana, a water loving plant, requires a large quantity of water for maximum productivity. But Banana roots are poor withdrawal of water. Therefore under Indian condition banana production should be supported by an efficient irrigation system like drip irrigation.
• Water requirement of banana has been worked out to be 2000mm per Annum. Application of drip irrigation and mulching technology has reported improved water use efficiency. There is saving of 56% of water and increasing yield by 23-32% under drip.
• Irrigate the plants immediately after planting. Apply sufficient water and maintain field capacity. Excess irrigation will lead to root zone congestion due to removal of air from soil pores, thereby affecting plant establishment and growth. And hence drip method is must for proper water management in Banana.

Fertigation

• Banana requires high amount of nutrients, which are often supplied only in part by the soil. Nutrient requirement has been worked out on all India basis is to be 20 kg FYM, 200gm N; 60-70gm P; 300gm K/plant. Banana requires heavy nutrition. Banana crop requires 7-8 Kg N, 0.7- 1.5 Kg P and 17-20 Kg K per metric tonne yield. 
• A 25-30% increase in yield is observed using fertigation. Moreover, it saves labour and time and the distribution of nutrients is uniform.

Weeding

• Spraying of Glyphosate (Round up) before planting at the rate of 2 lit/ha is carried out to keep the plantation weed free. One or two manual weedings are necessary.

Desuckering

Removal of unwanted suckers is a critical operation in banana for reducing internal competition with the main plant. Small suckers are removed on regular basis upto 7-8 months.

Propping

Due to heavy weight of bunch the plant goes out of balance and the bearing plant may lodge and production and quality are adversely affected. Therefore they should be propped with the help of two bamboos forming a triangle by placing them against the stems on leaning side. This also helps in uniform development of bunch.

Bunch cover & spray

Covering bunch using dried leaves of the plant is economical and prevents bunch from direct exposure to sunlight and also enhances the quality of fruit. But in rainy season this practice should be avoided. Sleeving of bunch is done to protect fruits against dust, spray residue, insect and birds. Transparent and perforated polythene sheets with 2% (during cool season) – 4% (during summer season) ventilation may be used to cover bunches. This may be combined with neem cake application (1 kg./ha.) . It increases the temperature around developing bunch and also helps in early maturity. 

          Spray of monocrotophos (0.2%) after emergence of all hands is effective in controlling the thrips. Thrips attack discolors the fruit skin and makes it unattractive.

Dehandling of false hands of bunch

Some incomplete hands in a bunch which are not fit for quality produce should be removed soon after bloom. This helps in improving the weight of other hands, finger size and improved skin : pulp ratio to meet the export standards. 

Mulching

Use of wheat straw and banana straw as a mulch material (12.5 kg./plant) in banana orchards is useful in increasing the bunch weight and conservation of soil moisture. The mulch is applied at the beginning of summer (February).

Inter-cropping 

Root system of banana is superficial and gets easily damaged by cultivation. Therefore, use of intercrop is not desirable. However short duration crops (45-60 days) like mung, cowpea, daincha are to be considered as green manuring crops. Leguminous crops, beetroot, elephant foot yam, ginger, turmeric and sunnhemp may be grown as an inter-crop during the first 3-4 months. However, growing of cucurbitaceous vegetables should be avoided as they are bearer of viruses. In coastal regions of Karnataka, Kerala and Andhra Pradesh, banana is grown in coconut and arecanut plantations with tall cultivars.

Crop duration

• The bunches will be ready for harvest after 12 to 15 months of planting.

Harvest
Bunches attain maturity from 100 to 150 days after flowering depending on variety, soil, weather condition and elevation.

Yield (t/ha/year)