Effect of planting density and nutrient management on growth, yield and quality of micro-propagated banana Rasthali Pathkapoora (AAB)

For improving the productivity of local banana Rasthali syn. Pathkapoora, an experiment was conducted at three planting densities with graded doses of nitrogen and potassium nutrition under coastal Orissa conditions. The experiment was laid out in split plot design with planting density as main plot (4,444, 3,265 and 2,500 pl/ha) and six combinations of N & K (200g N + 200gK, 200gN + 300gK, 250gN + 200gK, 250gN + 300 g K, 300 g N + 200 g K, 300 g N + 300 g K) as sub-plot treatment with three replications. The results of the experiment clearly indicated that plant height (315.99 & 302.15 cm) and fruit yield (37.707 & 35.28 t/ha) increased significantly due to increasing planting density in main and ratoon crop. But, earlier shooting (by 10 & 15 days) was observed due to lower planting density (2,500 pl/ha). There was no adverse impact of increasing planting density on quality of banana fruits like TSS, sugars and acidity. Application of nitrogen and potassium significantly improved the plant growth and yield of banana. Significantly maximum plant height (307.58 & 293.77 cm) and fruit yield (30.83 & 27.91 t/ha) were recorded due to combined application of 250 g nitrogen and 200 g potassium per plant in main and ratoon crops, respectively. Higher doses of nitrogen and potassium increased the total soluble solids and sugars but decreased the acid content in the ripe fruits.