EFFECT OF POST SHOOTING BUNCH FEEDING OF NUTRIENTS ON YIELD AND QUALITY OF BANANA (Musa spp.) CV. NEY POOVAN (AB)

Abstract

Banana (Musa spp.) is a climatic and delicious fruit, which is nutritionally superior and economically important for local and export markets in world trade and plays a key role in the economy of developing countries. The present investigation was carried out in Department of Horticulture, Faculty of Agriculture, Annamalai University, Annamalai Nagar, Tamil Nadu, and India during the period 2022 - 2023 to assess the effect of denavelling and bunch feeding treatments on yield and quality of banana (Musa spp.) cv. Ney Poovan (AB). The experiment was laid out in a Randomized Block Design with eleven treatments and three replications. The treatment consisted with fresh cow dung slurry, vermicompost, urea, ammonium sulphate and sulphate of potash which were applied with different treatment combinations along with denavelling and bunch feeding viz., T1 - Fresh cow dung 500 ml + Urea 7.5 g, T2 – Fresh cow dung 500 ml + Sulphate of potash 7.5 g, T3 – Fresh cow dung 500 ml + Ammonium sulphate 7.5 g ,T4 - Vermicompost 500 ml + Urea 7.5 g, T5– Vermicompost 500 ml + Sulphate of potash 7.5 g , T6 – Vermicompost 500 ml + Ammonium sulphate 7.5 g, T7 - Fresh cow dung 500 ml + Urea 7.5g + Sulphate of potash 7.5g ,T8 - Fresh Cowdung 500 ml + Urea 7.5 g + Ammonium sulphate 7.5 g ,T9 – Vermicompost 500 ml + Urea 7.5g + Sulphate of potash 7.5 g , T10 – Vermicompost 500 ml + Urea 7.5 g + Ammonium sulphate 7.5 g and T11 - Denavelling alone (Control). The result revealed that the treatment T7 - fresh cow dung slurry 500 ml with Urea + sulphate of potash each at 7.5 g registered maximum bunch weight (13.96 kg), number of hands per bunch (11.16 nos.), number of fingers per bunch (155.93 nos.), TSS ( 26.73 %), acidity ( 0.18 %), ascorbic acid ( 11.27 mg 100g-1 ) and total sugars ( 20.19 %). The treatment T11(control) was the most ineffective of all the treatments regarding all the yield and quality parameters of banana (Musa spp.) cv. Ney Poovan (AB).