B. Chalise^1,2 , A.K. Shrestha² , A. Srivastava² , K.M. Tripathi²

1 Directorate of Agricultural Research, Lumbini Province, Janaki-04, Khajura, Banke, Nepal
2 Agriculture and Forestry University, Faculty of Agriculture, Department of Horticulture, Bharatpur-15, Rampur, Chitwan, Nepal
Author    Correspondence author
International Journal of Horticulture, 2023, Vol. 13, No. 11   doi: 10.5376/ijh.2023.13.0011
Received: 07 Oct., 2023    Accepted: 26 Oct., 2023    Published: 15 Nov., 2023

This is an open access article published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Chalise B., Shrestha A.K., Srivastava A., and Tripathi K.M., 2023, Effect of plant nutrients on vegetative growth of Cavendish banana cv. ‘Grand Naine’ under mid-western terai condition of Nepal, International Journal of Horticulture, 13(11): 1-11 (doi: 10.5376/ijh.2023.13.0011)

A field experiment was conducted in Cavendish banana cv. ‘Grand Naine’ to evaluate the effect of plant nutrients on vegetative growth. The nutrients comprised N, P, K, and Zn, Fe, Cu, and B supplied through soil application (NPK) and foliar spray (Zn, Fe, Cu, and B) at 3rd, 5th and 7th months after planting. Experiment was carried out under the alkaline soil condition of Directorate of Agricultural Research, Khajura, Banke, Nepal for two cropping seasons 2020-2021 (plant crop) and 2021-2022 (first ratoon crop). Trial was laid-out in randomized complete block design with seven treatments replicated three times. Planting of tissue culture banana was done on 4th July of 2020 as plant crop and suckers selected from the same plant at the same date was considered as the first ratoon crop. An experimental unit (16 m²) consisted of four plants maintained 2×2 m spacing planted in 40 cm deep pit having the same diameter. FYM was supplied at four installments, basal, 3rd, 5th and 7th months after planting while chemical fertilizers (Urea, DAP, MoP) were applied at six installments, 30, 75, 110, 150, 180 days after planting and 100 g of MoP was applied during shooting. The pooled data of plant and first ratoon crop revealed that the greatest base circumference (68.92 cm), the tallest plant (222.00 cm), the highest number of effective leaves (17.00), the greatest leaf area (16.07 m²) and leaf area index (4.02), the highest plant spread (327.60 cm) and the highest number of cumulative leaves (44.00) were recorded at shooting in T3 (FYM 20 kg/plant + NPK 250:250:350 g per plant + ZnSO₄ (0.5%) + FeSO₄ (0.2%) + CuSO₄ (0.2%) + Borax (0.1%). Therefore, from the study banana growers are highly recommended to use FYM, chemical fertilizers along with the foliar spray of micronutrients, at least for three times at vegetative growth phase of banana grown under alkaline soil condition for achieving the highest growth of plant.

Grand Naine; Plant nutrients; Vegetative growth; Leaf area index; Shooting