Effect of planting time on post-harvest performance of banana cv. Martaman

摘要

Banana is an important fruit crop and grown in 15,540 ha with an annual production of 2.5 lakh tonnes in West Bengal. Its cultivation requires copious irrigation and with the conversion of more and more areas under irrigation, it is possible to adjust the planting time so as to harvest during lean supply periods, i.e. December to March. However, weather parameters particularly temperature and relative humidity play an important role in banana production. Higher yield and best quality fruits are produced under an optimum temperature of 25-35 deg C. Hence, in Gangetic alluvial zone of West Bengal, traditionally banana is planted during April-July. However, the situation is fast changing with increasing commercialization of production to the growingdemand for banana in both domestic and export markets. Therefore, an experiment was conducted to evaluate the effect of different planting time on yield, post-harvest qualities, incidence of diseases under the agro-climatic condition of Gangetic alluvialzone of West Bengal.