Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

Optimal fertilization of banana for high yield, quality, and nutrient use efficiency.

2009; Volume: 93; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

0006-0089

Lixian Yao, Guoliang Li, Yang BaoMei, Tu ShiHua,

Banana Cultivation and Research

Banana yield and quality improvement due to balanced fertilization has been well documented in China and elsewhere (Moreira et al., 1986; Hegde and Srinivas, 1991; McIntyre et al., 2000; Yao et al., 2005). However, adequate information on agronomic effi ciency (AE expressed as kg fruit per kg of nutrient) in China’s banana crops is generally lacking, which identifi es an important knowledge gap for these economically important and nutrient-demanding systems. Information on improving fruit storage quality and the storage properties of banana fruit through proper nutrient use is also very crucial since large quantities of fruit are sold to far-away markets. Banana is widely grown in southern China and among the southern provinces, Guangdong is the number one producer. It has a planting area of 126,000 ha and a production (2006) of 3.35 million metric tons (M t), or about half of the banana production in China. It is reported that more than 20% of yield losses occur during transportation (Hu et al., 2003). This fi eld study was designed to identify fruit yield and storage trait responses under improved NPK fertilization and to document AE data within two successive banana crops grown in southern China. The experiment was located in Dongfu Village, Fusha Town, Zhongshan City of Guangdong Province, during 20062007 on an alluvial soil that is typical of the Pearl River Delta. The soil, analyzed using the ASI method used by the SinoCanada Lab in Beijing and described by Portch and Hunter (2002), was determined to be defi cient in N (10.5 mg/L), P (4.6 mg/L), and K (39.1 mg/L), and medium to high in Ca, Mg, S, Mn, Zn, Fe, and B. The soil test for N is often considered an unreliable indicator of soil N status under banana, as close relationships between soil N test and banana response to applied N are diffi cult to obtain (Lopez and Espinosa, 2000). As a result, soil test information was combined with regional knowledge to construct an optimal (OPT) treatment of 900270-1,080 kg N-P 2 O 5 -K 2 O/ha for mother plant fertilization and 825-248-990 kg N-P 2 O 5 -K 2 O/ha for the crop of daughter plants. A randomized plot design was used with four treatments and three replications. Three deletion plots individually omitted N, P, and K based on rates used in the OPT treatment. Urea, single superphosphate, and potassium chloride were used as sources for N, P, and K, respectively. The total N, P, and K fertilizers were split into eight dressings amounting to 35% of N, P, and K application during vegetative growth after planting and before fl ower differentiation, 40% before fl ower emergence, and the remaining 25% after fl ower emergence. The banana variety Baxi was planted at 1,620 seedlings/ha with 10 plants per plot. Mother plants were planted in early March 2006 and were harvested in late December 2006 to early March 2007. Daughter plants were selected in mid-August 2006 and harvested in early October to early November 2007.