Enhancing the productivity of `Saba' banana through improved management system
2002
Opina, O.S. (Philippines Univ. Los Banos, College, Laguna (Philippines). Dept. of Plant Pathology)
The professorial lecture was delivered primarily to assess the recent status of the Philippine banana industry with special emphasis on `Saba' banana and to present the results of `Saba' banana research activities recently conducted by the lecturer. The paper featured `Saba' banana as the most important cultivar in which the Philippines has a global competitive advantage. However, low fruit yield and quality and presence of destructive diseases were emphasized as major weaknesses of the `Saba' banana industry. The paper proposed two strategies to enhance `Saba' production, viz upgrading the existing and declining `Saba' plantations and adopting improved `Saba' banana production systems similar to those employed by the corporate Cavendish plantations. Sets of research data were presented to prove that `Saba' production can be profitability enhanced by upgrading existing plantations through disease management of bugtok utilizing early debudding, sanitation and bagging interventions. Experimental results were also presented to demonstrate that improved cultural practices such as high density planting and fertilization can substantially enhance `Saba' production with significant economic benefit
显示更多 [+] 显示较少 [-]