Abstract
The knowledge of the inter-seasonal fluctuations in characteristics of fruit quality and production is important for management of plants, prediction of yield and marketing strategies. This study aims to evaluate how the climatic conditions prevailing in the month of harvest impact bunch mass and variability of the size and color of the banana fruit ‘Nanica’ and ‘Prata’ cultivated under marginal tropical climate. The experiments were carried in Registro, Ribeira Valley region, São Paulo, Brazil, in a completely randomized design with 24 treatments (months of bunch harvest) and ten replications, for each cultivar. Cyclic seasonal fluctuations in production were found in for the two cultivars, with the lowest bunch mass (BM), fruit size consistently recorded between July and February associated with lower global solar radiation (Rad) and temperature (T) of the harvest month, but not precipitation (Ppt). The extension of monthly fluctuations in BM were similar to ‘Prata’ (18.95±3.31 kg) and ‘Nanica’ (29.51±4.69 kg). Independent of the harvest month, there was a trend of greater variability for fruit length (FL) and lower for fruit diameter (FD) between fruits of the different positions in the bunch. The correlations between Rad or T of harvest month with BM, FL, FD and SL were all positive. For both cultivars, the shelf life (SL) was longer for fruits of the last hand. There were also positive correlations between Rad or T with SL. The decrease of peel color characteristics of the ‘Nanica’ fruit was associated with cold fronts from autumn to spring and chilling injury, with higher intensity in the last hand.
Highlights
Banana (Musa spp., Musaceae family) is one of the most important fruit crops cultivated in more than 130 tropical and subtropical countries (El-Mahdy et al, 2018)
This study aims to evaluate how the climatic conditions prevailing in the month of harvest impact bunch mass and variability of the size and color of the banana fruit ‘Nanica’ and ‘Prata’ cultivated under marginal tropical climate
There was great variation in fruit length (FL) for the three positions in the bunch, depending on the harvest month: absence of difference (6 months); fruits of hand 1 and hand 4, which did not differ from each other and were longer than fruits of the last hand (5 months); fruits of hand 1 were longer than fruits of hand 4 and last hand, which did not differ from each other (4 months); and difference between the three positions (9 months)
Summary
Banana (Musa spp., Musaceae family) is one of the most important fruit crops cultivated in more than 130 tropical and subtropical countries (El-Mahdy et al, 2018). Banana is a plant of tropical origin, that under sufficient water supplies, growth and yield are mainly determined by temperature (Robinson & Saúco, 2012). Chilling (temperatures lower than 20 °C) is one of the factors that limits the establishment of banana plantations at certain latitudes, and has an impact on the growth and development of plants, yield and fruit quality (Zapata et al, 2015). Brazil is a very large country with a diverse climate, with latitude ranges from 5o N to 33o S (Pommer & Barbosa, 2009), with most of this territory considered adequate for banana cultivation. Brazil stands out among world producers of banana, but her production is almost entirely targeted at the domestic market due to its large population and high per capita consumption, exports are growing (Coltro & Karaski, 2019)
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