Nutrient Management for New Banana Varieties in Guangdong

Banana is one of the most popular tropical and subtropical fruits. Several cultivars of banana are being grown that vary considerably in nutrient requirement. To better understand the nutrient demands of different cultivars and recommend cultivar-specific nutrient management to growers, a widely grown banana cultivar—Pisang awak (Musa ABB Pisang Awak)—was selected by analyzing contents of essential nutrients plus silicon (Si) in different organs of the plant. Three representative whole banana plants were sampled from a banana plantation that had received balanced application of fertilizers along with good field management practices during the growing season.

Results showed that the quantity of different nutrients required by this banana cultivar varied considerably. To produce 100 kg fruit, it required 3.56 kg N, 1.66 kg Si, 0.90 kg K, 0.45 kg Ca, 0.19 kg Mg, 0.13 kg P, 94 g Mn, 86 g S, 39 g Fe, 3.3 g Zn, 1.1 g B, 1.1 g Cu, and 21 mg Mo. These values were much higher (1.74 times for N, 2.81 times for P, 2.04 times for K, 1.47 times for Ca, 1.32 times for Mg, 1.91 times for S, 4.03 times for Fe, 17.77 times for Mn, 3.82 times for Zn, and 2.58 times for B) when compared with nutrient uptake values of another cultivar, viz., Brazil banana (Musa AAA Giant Cavendish cv. Baxi). The percentage of nutrient removal in fruit to total uptake at maturity was in the order of P (29.1%) > Cu (23.6%) > Mg (20.8%) > N (20.5%) > S (18.4%) > Mo (18.1%) > B (15.7%) > K (14.9%) > Ca (14.5%) > Zn (13.6%) > Si (6.6%) > Mn (5.6%) > Fe (2.6%). This indicated that nutrient removal by fruit was not proportional to its total uptake. Further analysis indicated that one third of N and 64.3% of Mn were accumulated in leaves, about 50% of K, Si and Mo were accumulated in the pseudo-stem, most of Ca, Mg, S, and B were accumulated in leaves and pseudo-stem, 61.5% of Fe was accumulated in roots, Cu was accumulated in pseudo-stem and fruits, and Zn was accumulated in pseudo-stem and corm. Guangdong-BFDP-2012