Abstract
Banana, one of the major staple food crops of the world, flowers round the year irrespective of the season. It gives the decisive flexibility to the grower for planning orchard operations as well as exploring the best marketing opportunities for the produce well in advance. Being a heavy feeder of nutrients and water, these inputs are critical to the success of banana cultivation especially at reproductive stage. Also, banana fruits are sensitive to many biotic and abiotic stresses which render them unsuitable for marketing. All these factors could be taken care of if phenological cycle of the crop is known to the grower. In Ney Poovan (Musa AB) banana, 58 plants were studied for parameters like days taken for floral initiation, anthesis, completion of female phase, fruit filling and total crop duration using BBCH scale. Inflorescence appeared after 311 days of planting and duration of reproductive stage varied between 124–147 days with average crop duration of 443 days. An account of the practical implications of this study has been discussed in detail. Further, another study was conducted in order to study the changes in the quality and storage behavior of the fruits harvested at different phases of bunch development (12–18 weeks after anthesis). Studies revealed that fruits harvested after 16 weeks of anthesis were more firm, exhibited maximum shelf life with minimum PLW and had highest TSS content amongst all the groups studied. The early as well as delayed harvesting rendered the fruits inferior in most of the parameters studied.
Published Version
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