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Spacing and sucker management in the commercial plantain production in the rainforest belt of Nigeria
Author(s) -
OBIEFUNA J. C.,
MAJUMDER P. K.,
UCHEAGWU A. C.
Publication year - 1982
Publication title -
annals of applied biology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.677
H-Index - 80
eISSN - 1744-7348
pISSN - 0003-4746
DOI - 10.1111/j.1744-7348.1982.tb00835.x
Subject(s) - hectare , sucker , orchard , biology , rootstock , yield (engineering) , crop , population , agronomy , horticulture , ecology , agriculture , materials science , demography , sociology , metallurgy , anatomy
SUMMARY Maintaining one, two or three suckers per rootstock in plantain ( Musa spp. ) populations of 2000, 1600 and 1333 per hectare were evaluated for sustained yield in the orchard for three harvest cycles. The yield per plantain for the plant crop was not significantly affected by either population density or the number of suckers maintained. However, the total yield significantly increased with the increased plantain population per hectare. The yield per plantain decreased in the first and subsequent ratoon crop harvests as the original plantain population per hectare doubled or tripled when two or three suckers were maintained respectively per rootstock. Although the total yield per hectare was significantly higher when two or three suckers were maintained per rootstock, the individual bunch weight and the fingers significantly decreased to an unacceptable size to the consumers. Establishment of orchards at 1600 plantains per hectare with two suckers maintained per rootstock in subsequent cycles produced consistently good quality marketable fingers and sustained high yield.