Abstract
Abstract ‘Grande Naine’ banana (Musa acuminata - AAA) in the municipality of Angra dos Reis (RJ) has been affected by the Black Sigatoka agent, fijiensis Mycosphaerella(current name Pseudocercospora fijiensis); causing losses to local producers, mostly small producers and low-income producers. Since Black Sigatoka was reported in the mentioned municipality, it was aimed to determine control efficiency through surgical measurement or surgical defoliation and to evaluate its effect on banana productivity characteristics. For this purpose, treatment was designed in the form of completely randomized blocks containing three blocks, each block with five plants with treatment (Surgery) and five plants without treatment (Control), in a total of 30 plants with fungal infection. Treatments were performed every 15 days with monthly severity assessments (Weighted Mean of Infection - MPI) by the method of Stover modified by Gauhl. The results obtained at the end of the trial showed significant differences in all variables (Severity, youngest leaf spotted, bunch weight and fruit size), and treatment with surgery provided reduction in severity (MPI) around 58%, thus confirming that plants received adequate treatment according to the results obtained for this methodology, and, contributing to the increase of the healthy leaf area in the youngest leaves, whereas in plants without surgery (Control), severity increased by 14.8% in comparison to the initial MPI evaluation, consequently having a smaller healthy leaf area for the accomplishment of photosynthesis and other physiological processes. In production variables bunch weight, fruit size and number of fruits, differences were significant (Pr> F = 0.0001), reaching an increase in yield of up to 300% when compared to Control. It is therefore an effective method for the control of phytopathogen black sigatoka unpublished in the state of Rio de Janeiro and that will bring direct benefits for Family Agriculture in the region of incidence of this banana disease.
Highlights
Banana is a very important culture in the world, being cultivated in more than 100 countries
The experiment was established in a plantation area with ‘Grande Naine’ banana (Musa acuminata - AAA) aged 4-5 years, using 30 banana plants at four months of age and with the presence of the black sigatoka agent M. fijiensis in leaves
In order to confirm the disease in the field, leaf samples of ‘Grande Naine’ banana with black sigatoka lesions were collected, packed in paper bags, sealed, packed in ice and sent to the Official Laboratory of Phytosanitary Diagnosis of UFRRJ, where procedures were performed to confirm the causal agent in Stereoscopic and Optical Microscopy, fungal isolation in BDA culture medium, extraction of fungal DNA followed by PCR test with ACTR / MFactF primers for M. fijiensis, as recommended by Brioso and Gasparotto (2012)
Summary
Banana is a very important culture in the world, being cultivated in more than 100 countries. The largest world’s banana producer is India, followed by China, the Philippines and Brazil, the latter with production of 6.7 million tones (FAOSTAT, 2016). Banana farming in the State of Rio de Janeiro has great economic and social importance in and has great exploitation potential. According to IBGE (2016), in Rio de Janeiro, banana production is 142,917 tons in a harvested area of 2 0,774 hectares, with average yields of 6.9 tons per hectare. It is important to highlight that most banana farmers occupy areas between two and five hectares (WILKINSON et al, 2012). The municipality of Angra dos Reis is the largest producer in the southern state of Rio de Janeiro, with production of 2,600 tons of banana in an area of 650 hectares (IBGE, 2016)
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
