Evaluation of Banana BRS Pacoua and Mysore Cultivars in Different Cultivation Conditions

Abstract

Banana is one of the most produced and most consumed fruits worldwide, since it is a fruit high in nutritional value, being an excellent cultivation option for both smallholders and large farmers. The aim with this work was to evaluate the development, adaptability and to estimate the yield of the banana cultivars BRS Pacoua and Mysore in commercial plantation with and without irrigation. The experiment was carried out at Takakura farm, located at the Para State, Brazil. The experimental design was randomized blocks, in a 2 × 2 factorial scheme, made of: two cultivars (BRS Pacoua and Mysore), and two cultivation methods (irrigated and not irrigated), with six blocks, four treatments and five repetitions, using five plants per treatment in each block. The following agronomic and vegetative characteristics were evaluated: plant height (m), base diameter (cm), bunch weight (kg), weight of the second hand (kg), fruits average weight (kg), number of hands per bunch (unt.), number of fingers in the second hand (unt.) and yield (t/ha). Accordingly to the data analysis there was significant variation for the conditions of cultivation, cultivars and interaction among cultivars and condition of cultivation in the analyzed characteristics, except plant height. The production and yield of the banana cultivars BRS Pacoua and Mysore are affected by the irrigation management, however, even in the cultivation system without irrigation the Mysore cultivar surpassed the BRS Pacoua cultivar in all the evaluated characteristics in the conditions of this work.