FIELD PERFORMANCE AND BUNCH QUALITY OF TISSUE CULTURED PLANTAIN CV ‘PITA 21’ AS INFLUENCED BY INORGANIC FERTILIZER

A field trial was conducted at the National Horticultural Research Institute, Ibadan, South Western Nigeria to assess the field performance and bunch quality of in-vitro propagated Pita 21 plantain variety under different rates of inorganic fertilizer. The experiment was laid out in a randomized complete block design with three replications. Treatments used were control (no NPK), 70kg/ha NPK 20: 10: 10, 150kg/ha NPK 20: 10: 10, 300kg/ha NPK 20: 10: 10 and 400kg/ha NPK 20: 10: 10. Data were collected at two-month intervals. Results showed that the treatments 400kg/ha NPK 20: 10: 10 fertilizer was the best in terms of plant height, number of leaves, stem girth and yield compared to the control. Yield was significantly (p<0.05) influenced by different rates of inorganic fertilizer. A yield of 4.95, 4.88, 4.42 and 4.05t/ha was obtained in 400kg/ha NPK 20: 10: 10, 300kg/ha NPK 20: 10: 10, 150kg/ha NPK 20: 10: 10, 75kg/ha NPK 20: 10: 10, and control respectively. The bunch qualities were evaluated via brix (%), pH, titratable acidity (%) and sugar-acid ratio. Brix(%) was significantly (P<0.05) influenced by different rate of inorganic fertilizer and it ranges from 12.5 – 22.5%. Treatment 300kg/ha NPK 20: 10: 10 recorded lowest brix indicating that fertilizer level reduced the sweetness of the plantain while control had the highest brix. pH values range from 4.5 – 4.8 and was higher in control when compared with treatment 300kg/ha NPK 20: 10: 10. Titratable acidity(%) range from 0.04 – 0.06. Control recorded lowest titratable acidity while treatment 300kg/ha NPK 20: 10: 10 had the highest value indicating that fertilizer level increased the acidity of plantain.