Effect of plant density and placement of emitters on yield, post-harvest and quality parameters in Banana cv. Grand Naine

Abstract

An experiment was conducted to study the effect of varied plant densities and different placement of emitters on yield, post harvest and quality parameters in banana cv. Grand Naine. The experiment was laid out in factorial RCBD design with three varied plant densities S1 (1.5 x 1.5 m), S2 (1.8 x 1.8 m) and S3 (2 x 2 m) and four different placement of emitters E1 (placement of emitters at plain), E2 (placement of emitters at 40 cm), E3 (placement of emitters at 50 cm) and E4 (placement of emitters at 60 cm) with three replications. The results of the experiment clearly indicated that the highest yield (79.37, 86.48 tons/ha) was registered in treatment (S1, E2 respectively) and the lowest yield (51.35, 54.33 tons/ha) was observed in treatment (S3, E1 respectively) in plant crop. Postharvest parameters like pulp weight (82.15 g, 104.53 g), pulp to peel ratio (1.83, 2.50) and shelf life (8.19, 8.52 days) was registered highest and peel weight was found lowest (46.00 g, 42.04 g) in treatment (S3, E2 respectively) in plant crop. The highest quality parameters viz., total sugar (19.56, 19.54 %), reducing sugar (16.96, 16.59 %), non reducing sugar (2.70, 2.75 %) and total soluble solid (23.11, 23.37 0Brix) was recorded highest in treatment (S3, E2 respectively) in plant crop. The similar trend of post harvest and quality parameters was found in ratoon crop also. However the lowest postharvest and quality parameter was observed in treatment (S1, E1) in plant and ratoon crop respectively.