2024, Vol. 7, Issue 12, Part J

author(s)
V Krishnamoorthy, K Kumanan, R Arunkumar, R Arulmmozhliyan and J Suresh

abstract
The investigation was carried out to assess the performance of tissue cultured plants and conventional suckers obtained from four banana cultivars: Poovan, Ney Poovan, Nendran and Grand Naine, during the first ratoon under saline soil conditions. The characteristics that contribute to growth and yield, as well as the prevalence of Fusarium wilt and banana bract mosaic viral infections were investigated. The results demonstrate that tissue culture plants had higher pseudostem height (250 cm), pseudostem girth (100 cm), leaf area index (4.27), bunch weight (16.11 kg), and yield (41.89 t/ha) than sucker planted ratoon crop. The bunch weight and production per hectare were 21% greater among banana cultivars cultivated using tissue culture plants than conventional suckers. Further, among the cultivars, the highest pseudostem height was observed in Ney Poovan (286 cm), pseudostem girth (115cm) and leaf area index (5.32) in Grand Naine during ratoon crop. Nendran was short duration crop with 246 days for shooting, 276 days for harvest, whilst, the long duration of 278 days for shooting and 310 days for harvest during ratoon crop recorded in Ney Poovan. The Grand Naine cultivar produced the maximum bunch weight (21.45 kg) and yield per hectare (64.35 t). The total soluble solids (21.0) and benefit-cost ratio (3.37) were higher in the Ney Poovan cultivar. The incidence of Fusarium wilt (10.2%) and banana bract mosaic disease (5.1%) was much lower in tissue culture plants than in conventional suckers.