Quality Characters and Shelf Life of Banana (Musa spp.) cv. Barjahaji as Influenced by Bunch Feeding of Nitrogen (N) and Potassium (K)

The present investigation was carried out at the Experimental Farm, Department of Horticulture, Assam Agricultural University, Jorhat during March 2015 to June 2016 to study the impact of denavelling (removal of male bud) and stalk-end nutrient application (bunch feeding) on the improvement of bunch quality of banana cultivar cv. Barjahaji. The experiment was conducted with nine (09) treatments and three (03) replication in a randomized block design (RBD). Nitrogen and Potassium were applied (at stalk-end after removal of male bud) in the form of different chemicals along with cow dung and compared with control. Among the treatments less acidity (0.23%), the highest total soluble solids (29.23 ºBrix), total sugars (17.42%), reducing sugar (9.09%), non-reducing sugar (8.33%) and Sugar acid ratio (75.74 %) were observed in the treatment T7 (500 g fresh cow dung + 7.5 g Urea + 7.5g K2SO4). In respect to shelf life, bunch feeding with 500 g fresh cow dung + 7.5 g Urea + 7.5g K2SO4 (T7) had attained the highest shelf life (7.67 days). It is evident from the study that there is a positive effect of bunch feeding on quality attributes and shelf life of banana. Hence bunch feeding of 500 g fresh cow dung + 7.5 g Urea + 7.5 g K2SO4 can be recommended for banana cv. Barjahaji (AAA) for getting best quality fruits of higher shelf life.