Prediction of potassium fertilizer requirement of banana, Musa (AAB Group) 'Nendran'

Abstract

A study was undertaken in the field of a local farmer from May, 1995 to January, 1996 to assess the effect of application of different doses of potassium on the growth, yield and quality of bananacv. Nendran. The experiment also envisaged standardisation of the index plant part of K status and determination of K level in index plant part and soil for maximum and economic yield. The experiment was laid out in RBD with five levels of K (0,150, 300, 450 and 600 g K 2O per plant ) as treatments replicated four times . The soil , low in N,P and K status belonged to the taxonomic class Loamy Kaolinitic Isohyperthermic Rhodic Haplustox. All the biometric characters studied namely height of plant , girth of pseudostem, number of functional leaves , total leaf area and leaf area index showed an increasing trend with increase in the dose of K application from 0 to 600 g K2O per plant and the effects were more pronounced from the shooting stage of the crop after it had received the full dose of K supply.