Mineral nutrition of banana in organic agriculture
In the French West Indies, banana farming systems have undergone major changes over the last decade, ranging from the adoption of agro-ecological practices to conversion into organic farming.
These changes have resulted in the use of organic fertilizers and live mulch soil cover.
These practices reduce the risks of nitrogen leaching due to a better soil exploration by the root systems and to a slow release of mineral nitrogen by organic matter.
However, control of nutrient availability to the crop is more challenging under these practices.
This is partly due to the competition for nutrients between the banana crop and the live mulch, and partly due to the variation in mineralization of the organic inputs with environmental and edaphic conditions.
The objective of this study was to assess the effect of soil cover and type of fertilizer on banana nutrition and yield parameters.
The experimental design was a full factorial combination of three types of soil cover (ploughed bare soil, weed live mulch, Pueraria phaseoloides cover) and two fertilization modes (chemical fertilization, organic fertilization) providing the same amount of available nitrogen (315 kg ha‑1 year‑1). Nitrogen and magnesium nutrition were better with chemical fertilization.
With organic fertilization first cycle duration was longer but banana tree pseudostem diameter was greater.
At the first crop cycle, we observed larger bunches with P. phaseoloides cover than with the other types of soil cover regardless of fertilizer type.
The effect of soil cover management and fertilization modes on banana yield indicators decreased from the second cycle.
Firstly, because in established banana plantation, banana canopy shading reduced live mulch vigour and the competition for nutrients and then because the floristic composition of vegetal soil cover tends to become uniform whatever the soil cover management mode.
Dorel, M., Lakhia, S. and Achard, R. (2023). Mineral nutrition of banana in organic agriculture. Acta Hortic. 1367, 87-96
DOI: 10.17660/ActaHortic.2023.1367.10
https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2023.1367.10
DOI: 10.17660/ActaHortic.2023.1367.10
https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2023.1367.10
organic fertilizer, weed management, nutrients uptake, yield
English