Agronomic performance of selected local and introduced banana cultivars (Musa spp.) under commercial management practices in Davao, Philippines

Authors : Gervacio, D.; Dawi, N.M.; Fabregar, E.G.; Molina, A.B.; Van den Bergh, I.

Abstract : Twenty-three introduced and four locally grown banana cultivars were evaluated in the field for their agronomic performance (measured in terms of yield and yield components, plant height and girth, and crop cycle) under commercial growing management practices in Davao, Philippines from April 2002 to April 2004. Several introduced varieties performed very well under the local conditions in terms of bunch weight. Almost all of them reached harvest in less than 1 year. 'FHIA-17', a dessert variety, produced the heaviest bunch in the trial (46.1 kg). 'Grand Naine', another dessert variety, combined a very short crop cycle with a bunch weight of 31.9 kg. 'FHIA-21', the only plantain in the trial, produced an intermediate-weight bunch of 29.1 kg. Among the cooking bananas, 'FHIA-25' had the highest bunch weight of 44.1 kg. With bunch weights ranging 18-32 kg, the local cultivars had a relatively lower production than most of the introduced varieties, but still performed well above their average reported yield under normal Philippine growing conditions. Tall Williams exhibited a shod crop cycle and produced a bunch of 30.5 kg. The local varieties 'Lakatan' and 'Latundan' had bunch weights of 17.7 and 21.3 kg, respectively. The local cooking banana 'Cardaba' took more than 1 year to harvest, but produced a relatively heavy bunch of 32 kg. (Author's abstract).

Keywords : CULTIVATION; YIELDS; INTRODUCED VARIETIES; LAND VARIETIES; PHILIPPINES

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