System Intensification for Enhanced Productivity and Water use Efficiency in Banana [Musa (AAB) Nendran]

Abstract

Background: The steady demand for banana due to its varied uses makes banana a high value crop. In Kerala, more than 70 per cent of banana cultivation is done on leased lands and hence obtaining maximum income from a unit area assumes utmost importance. High density planting (HDP) could realize it, but had to be standardised in agro climatic regions of the state using specific cultivars and management level. Methods: Field experiments were conducted at Agronomic Research Station, Chalakudy, Kerala to assess the water use efficiency and productivity of banana variety Nendran under HDP. The experiment was laid out in factorial RBD with irrigation methods and crop geometry as the factors. Irrigation methods included drip irrigation with 50% pan evaporation compensation (PE) and 75% PE on alternate days (I1 and I2) and basin irrigation with 100% PE on alternate days (I3). Geometry treatments consisted of planting single plants at spacing of 2 m x 2 m (G1), planting 2 plants/hill at a spacing of 2.6 m x 2.6 m (G2) and planting 3 plants/hill at spacing of 3.0 m x 3.0 m (G3) resulting in 2500, 2950 and 3330 plants/ha respectively. Result: High density planting with 3 plants / hill resulted in increased yield by 21.6% over single plant/pit. Drip irrigation at 75% PE produced comparable yields with basin irrigation at 100% PE and had higher water use efficiency than basin irrigation. In banana HDP with 3 plants/hill under drip irrigation at 75% pan evaporation compensation on alternate days can be recommended to farmers of Kerala.