EFFECT OF PLANTING MATERIALS AND SOURCES OF NUTRIENTS ON GROWTH, YIELD AND QUALITY OF BANANA

Abstract

An experiment was conducted at Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University, Dhaka, during the period from March 2020 to April 2021. The objective of this study was to determine the performance of planting materials and organic and inorganic sources of nutrients on growth, yield and quality of banana. The two factors experiment consisted of two planting materials of banana, Tissue culture plantlet (P 1 ), Corm (P 2 ) and sources of nutrients; Cowdung (M 1 ), Vermicompost (M 2 ), Spent mushroom compost (M 3 ) and Inorganic fertilizers (M 4 ); which were outlined in a Randomized Complete Block design with 3 replications. Maximum number of fingers (135.3), yield/plant (18.67 kg), TSS (21.73 %), reducing sugar (15.12 %) were found in P 2 whereas minimum in P 1 . Individual fruit weight (150.5 g) was maximum in P 1 . Among the sources of nutrients, maximum number of fingers (140.0), yield/plant (21.29 kg), individual fruit weight (152.08 g), TSS (22.09 %), reducing sugar (16.11%) were recorded in M 2 . For combined effect, yield/plant (22.45 kg) were maximum in P 2 M 2 and minimum (14.73 kg) in P 1 M 3 . In view of overall performance, this study suggests that corm as a planting material and vermicompost as a potential source of nutrients for banana production.