Effect of different planting dates on growth and survival of banana cv. Dwarf Cavendish

Authors

1 Agricultural Research, Education and Extension Organization (AREEO), Horticultural Sciences Research Institute, Date Palm and Tropical Fruits Research Center, Ahvaz, Iran

2 Ph.D. Student of plant breeding, department of Agronomy and Plant Breeding, College of Agriculture, Shiraz University

Abstract

In order to determine the best planting date for dwarf Cavendish an experiment was carried out with twelve treatments in Zarabad Research field located in 185 km western of Chabahar for 32 months (2013-2015). Planting date significantly affected growth, cycling time and yield of banana. Bananas planted on march 6, 2014 and August 6, 2013 significantly promoted all growth characters, as well as the weight of bunches (13.29 and 14 Kg) with maximum weight (2 and 2.5 Kg) while bananas planted on July 6, 2014 and January 5, 2014 showed the lowest weight. Results showed that survival percentage were different so that, 6 August and 6 March were the best times of planting with 98.1 and 98 % of survivals, respectively. Planting on 6 July showed the least survival (77.6 %). Different dates of planting affected the number of suckers and the time between planting till flowering. The highst number of suckers was observed in 6 October and the least number of suckers was recorded in the suckers planted on 6 April and 6 may. Planting on 6 December after 318 days and planting on 6 February 2005 after 421 days in sequence were the lowst and the highst date of planting till flowering. Planting on 6 August and 6 March showed the most positive effect on weight and length of banana bunch, length and number of fruits in each bunch 

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