Performance of cultivar SCS453 Noninha under different planting densities

Abstract

Banana is one of the main fruits of socioeconomic importance in Brazil and the world, and the country is one of the leading global producers. A large part of the national production is consumed internally, emphasizing bananas from the Prata subgroup (AAB). The ‘SCS453 Noninha’ is a new cultivar of this subgroup that presents as its main characteristic the smaller height compared to the other varieties. Aiming to verify if the smallest height of the cultivar allows an increase in the planting density, the present work evaluated the agronomic performance of this cultivar under the following densities: 2.500 plants ha^-1 (2.0 x 2.0m), 2.000 plants ha^-1 (2, 0 x 2.5m), 1.600 plants ha^-1 (2.5 x 2.5m) and 1.333 plants ha^-1 (2.5 x 3.0m). The variables bunch weight, fruit diameter, time until the bunch emission, time between bunch emission and harvest, cycle time, productivity, and susceptibility to the Sigatoka complex were analyzed in the first three cycles. The time between inflorescence emissions between 2 subsequent cycles was also evaluated up to the fifth cycle. Based on the results, it is suggested that this new cultivar can be cultivated with a density of up to 1.600 plants ha^-1 (2.5 x 2.5m).