Abstract:
The investigation on Regulation of leaf pruning to
optimise leaf and bunch harvest in Musa (AB group) Njalipoovan
and (AAB group) Palayankodan was conducted at the Department of
Horticulture College of Agriculture Vellayani
Thiruvananthapuram during 1993 94 in order to study the effect
of leaf pruning on growth yield and fruit quality of
Njalipoovan and Palayankodan bananas
Studies revealed that the plant height in Njalipoovan
was comparatively less affected by leaf pruning than
Palayankodan Plant height in both the varieties was higher
with less severe pruning treatments The plant girth total
number of leaves per plant and phylachron were not influenced by
the leaf pruning regimes imposed Leaf longevity increased
slightly with the severity of pruning Njalipoovan responded
more to leaf pruning than Palayankodan with regard to leaf
longevity
The functional leaf area leaf area index and leaf
area duration decreased significantly with the severity of leaf
pruning in both the cultivars Leaf pruning after 15 days of
unfurling less adversely affected the relative growth rate in
both the cultivars The time taken for bunch emergence increased
and the time taken for bunch maturity decreased when the extent
of lamina removed was more or the period of retention was short
in both Njalipoovan and Palayankodan The crop duration in
Njalipoovan decreased when the period of retention of leaves
was longer
The sucker production and dry matter production in both
the cultivars were higher with lesser severity of pruning
The bunch characters of Njalipoovan were less
adversely affected by the leaf pruning treatments imposed than
Palayankodan The number of hands fingers bunch weight and
yield per hectare in both the cultivars decreased with the
increase m the severity of pruning The finger length finger
girth finger weight peel weight pulp weight and pulp/peel
ratio of the fruits were also adversely affected by severe
pruning treatments Abnormalities in fruit shape and fruit
filling were observed as a result of the leaf pruning treatments
in Palayankodan
The fruit quality of cv Palayankodan was more affected
by severe pruning than that of cv Njalipoovan In both the
cultivars severe pruning treatments resulted in decreased
quality m terms of TSS reducing sugars total sugars and
sugar/acid ratio The acidity of the fruits was not
significantly affected in Njalipoovan The non reducing sugar
content and the green life of the fruits decreased with Increase
m the extent of leaf area removed but the time of pruning had no
significant influence on these characters
The content of major nutrients in the plant parts
decreased with the increase m the severity of leaf pruning The
cost of cultivation was higher in the treated plants The
returns from fruits and the total returns per hectare was highest
m the control plants The net returns was higher in
Njalipoovan compared to ‘Palayankodan
The studies thus indicated that in general leaf
pruning was not a desirable practice from the economic point of
view in Njalipoovan and Palayankodan However the loss of
lamina upto 50 per cent after 30 days of unfurling had less
deleterious effects compared to more severe loss of leaf area
Njalipoovan exhibited more ability to withstand the adverse
effects of leaf pruning than Palayankodan