Efecto de la poda de manos en ‘FHIA-21’ (Musa AAAB) sobre el peso, longitud y diámetro de los frutos

Abstract

The effect of bunch “dehanding” of ‘FHIA 21’ (Musa AAAB) on yield and fruit characteristics was evaluated. The investigation was conducted at the “Samán Mocho” Experimental Station of the Central University of Venezuela, located in the “Carlos Arvelo” County, Carabobo State, at 450 masl, in a tropical dry forest area. A 4x4 Latin Square experimental design was used, with four treatments and four repetitions. Bunch dehanding treatments were applied to plantain hybrid ‘FHIA-21’: four (P4), five (P5), and six hands bunch (P6) and no bunch dehanding (ND). Total bunch weight and first four hands weight, were determined during two production cycles. Internal and external length, diameter, weight and curvature index of the fruits were evaluated as well. Results indicated a detrimental effect (P<0.05) of bunch dehanding on total bunch weight, having the ND the highest values (26.4 ± 1.5 kg), while in the others treatments weights were lower than 20.0 ± 1.8 kg. Nevertheless, fruit weight, length and diameter were improved with bunch dehanding treatments, especially P4 being the best, with fingers longer than 25 cm, diameter greater these 4.5 cm and weights over 300 g. Correlation analysis between bunch weight and four first hands weight for each treatment were evaluated. Most of the time, second hand correlation coefficient was the highest (0.94 ± 0.03); for that reason, it could be consider to be the best indicator for the fruits size dimension, which is important to estimate quality or production parameters.