Influence of organic inputs on the yield and quality of fruits in banana cultivar 'Poovan' (syn. Mysore AAB)

Banana is the most popular fruit crop both in the tropical and sub tropical countries and is an important staple food in the African countries. Globally, among more than 130 banana growing countries, India is first in area and production of the crop with a share of 19.71% of the global production. Investigations were conducted with the objective of standardizing the optimum requirement of organic inputs to enhance the yield and quality of ‘Poovan’ banana fruits. An experiment was performed with ten treatments having organics at different ratios of FYM (25 and 12.5 kg plant-1), vermicompost (3 and 6 kg plant-1), neemcake (1.5, 1.0 and 3 kg plant-1) and combination of biofertilizers 100 g VAM and 50 g phosphate solubilizing bacteria and Azospirillum plant-1 as soil application including different levels of inorganic fertilizers. Generally, fruit yields and plant growth occurred with increased levels of organics and inorganics combined with biofertilizers at all stages of growth. Integrated nutrient supplied plots had significantly taller plant without affecting other parameters like plant girth, number of healthy leaves and total leaf area which are essential for producing good economic yield of banana. Overall, the application of integrated combination at later stages (5 MAP) had significant effects on all growth parameters; the degree of reduction in plant growth characters, flowering and yield parameters was comparatively more at shooting stage. The treatment which received 50% recommended dose of inorganic fertilizers, 12.5 kg farmyard manure, 3 kg vermicompost, 1.0 kg neem cake 100 g VAM and 50 g each of Phosphobacteria and Azospirillum plant-1 recorded significantly lesser phyllochron (7.62 days), early flowering (252.41 days), early maturity and reduced total crop duration. It also recorded significantly highest bunch weight (22.25 kg) as a result of medium number of hands (12.78), more finger weight (96.80 g), larger fruit size (14.75 cm) and maximum peel:pulp ratio (4.83%). The fruits had superior quality of high total soluble solid, total sugar and low acidity. The treatment with 100% organic inputs resulted in moderate yield with higher quality parameters.