PhD

Banana cv. Njalipoovan is a popular variety cultivated in
homesteads of Kerala. The nutritional requirement of the cultivar has
not yet been worked out. Field experiments were conducted at Onattukara
Regional Agricultural Research Station, Kayamkulam in Alappuzha district
during 1998-99 and 1999-00 to formulate an effective nutrient
management schedule for the cultivar in Onattukara soil. In addition to
this a soil column study was undertaken separately to assess the leaching
losses of nutrients in the soil and retention of applied nutrients at
different depths.
Three levels each of nitrogen at 100, 200 and 300 g plant",
phosphorus at 100, 200 and 300 g plant! and potassium at 200, 400 and
600 g planr ! apart from nopoko (control) in each block were tested in
confounded 33 factorial, confounding NPK in replication I and NP2K in
replication H.
Application of nitrogen at 300 g plant"! increased the growth
attributes like height of the plant, girth of the pseudo stem, total number
of leaves and number of functional leaves. Nitrogen supply at higher
rates reduced the total duration of the crop, increased the LAI and leaf
emergence rate, dry matter accumulation in leaves, pseudostem, rhizome

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and bunch. Yield attributes and bunch yield increased significantly upto
300 g N planr l. The quality of the fruit was favoured by the application
of higher rates of nitrogen. N supplementation at higher rates was
beneficial for the uptake of N, P, K, Ca and Mg and micronutrients such
as Mn, Zn and Cu. It also enhanced the available N, P, K, Ca and Mg in soil.
Supply of phosphorus at 200 g plant"! increased the above growth
attributes at most of the stages. LAI in the early stages of growth was
favoured by P supply at high rate. Phosphorus application at 300 g
plane I favoured dry matter accumulation in leaves, pseudostem, rhizome
and bunch. Yield attributes and yield were high by applying phosphorus
at 200 g planr ' Fruit quality was not affected by the application of P.
Higher rate of P 20 5 enhanced the uptake of N, P, K, Ca, Mg and
micronutrients. P nutrition increased the available Nand P content of
the soil.
Potassium nutrition at higher rates promoted all the above growth
characters, leaf area, LAI and dry matter accumulation in different plant
parts. Potassium applied at 400 g plant! favoured the yield attributes
and yield of crop. Application of K20 at 600 g plane 1 yielded better
quality fruits with appreciable total sugars, reducing sugars, sugar-acid
ratio, pulp-peel ratio and shelf life. Higher rates of K20 enhanced the
uptake of N, P, K and micronutrients like iron, manganese, zinc and
copper. Potassium supply at 400 g plant! was beneficial in increasing
the calcium and magnesium uptake by different plant parts. Application





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of K20 at higher rates resulted in appreciable build up of N, P and K in
the soil.
The combination of N, P20S and K20 applied at 300:300:600 g
plant! had appreciably increased the growth characters, yield attributes,
and nutrient uptake. It was comparable to that of N, P20S and K20 at
200:200:400 g planr '. The bunch yield obtained by the application of N,
P20S and K20 at 300:300:600 g plant! was also comparable with that of
200:200:400 g planr '. However, mineral nutrition of N, P20S and K20
at 200:200:400 g plane! had given the maximum benefit-cost ratio of
1.96. Therefore it can be concluded from the study that application of
N, P20S and K20 at 200:200:400 g plant! is beneficial for getting higher
yield and maximum economic returns.