Effects of inorganic mulching on morphological features, quality and yield of banana
2018
Balkic, R. | Gubbuk, H. | Tozlu, İ | Altinkaya, L.
Banana is the only tropical species produced profitably in Turkey, even though it is produced well beyond major banana production zones. Banana production's popularity in Turkey could be due to fruiting being in the same year as planting, lower labour costs compared to many other alternative species, and ease of marketing with stable pricing. Yields and quality of bananas produced out of the main production zone are significantly affected by cultivar choice, cultural practices and growth conditions (greenhouse or open field production). While organic mulching is a commonly applied cultural practice in the tropics, inorganic mulch usage is much rarer. The effects of using clear plastic and white net (19 g m-2) mulches on banana morphology, fruit characteristics and yield of 'Dwarf Cavendish' have been investigated. Mulching increased the number of fingers per hands, bunch weight, yield per square cm of stem and yield per area but did not affect stem height, leaf number, bunch stalk circumference and hand number. Best values for yield components were obtained from using white net. Bunch weights and yield per area values for control (no mulch), plastic and white net mulching treatments were found to be 24, 26 and 28 kg bunch-1 and 38.7, 41.7 and 45.2 t ha-1 year-1, respectively. Besides improving fruit quality, mulching shortened fruit-maturing period in terms of days from flowering to harvest. It also significantly increased soluble solids, peel thickness, pulp ratio and peel color (achieved by a smaller Hue angle value).
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