Effect of suboptimal growing conditions induced by agroecological practices on the yield of 12 Cavendish banana cultivars

In the French West Indies (FWI), practices alternative to chemical inputs are implemented to improve the sustainability of banana cropping systems. These agroecological practices are based on organic fertilization, soil covering with weed live mulch and severe prophylactic deleafing to limit sigatoka disease dissemination. However, these practices may impair the availability of soil mineral nutrients and the photosynthetic capacity of the plant and consequently induce suboptimal plant growth conditions. To assess the performance of the different banana cultivars from the Cavendish group in these suboptimal conditions, the yield components of 12 Cavendish banana cultivars were compared with four crop management modalities: i) high mineral fertilization, chemical weed control and minimum prophylactic deleafing (N + L+), ii) high mineral fertilization, chemical weed control and severe prophylactic deleafing (N + L−), iii) low organic fertilization, weed live mulch and minimum prophylactic deleafing (N−L+) and iv) low organic fertilization, weed live mulch and severe prophylactic deleafing (N−L−). The performance of all cultivars varied according to the crop management modalities in the following order: N + L+ > N + L− > N−L+> N−L−. However, the hierarchical order among the cultivars differed according to the crop management modality. Cultivar Americani exhibited the best performance in non-limiting conditions. Cultivars such as Ruby, Gua01 and Mat12 performed better with severe prophylactic deleafing while Gua02 and Ruby performed better with the low soil nutrient availability induced by organic fertilization and weed live mulch. These results can be used to guide the choice of Cavendish cultivar according to production constraints, particularly with regard to agroecological practices or abiotic stresses, such as reduced photosynthesis or limited nitrogen resource. These results suggest that there is a variability in the tolerance to abiotic stresses between the cultivars of the Cavendish group.