Drought is a major yield loss factor for rainfed East African highland banana
Abstract
Although drought stress has been identified among the production constraints of East African highland bananas (Musa spp., AAA-EA genome), no quantitative data were available to support this assumption. This study uses data from three on-station fertilizer trials (5–6 cycles) in Central and Southwest Uganda to quantify the effect of drought stress on banana production and explore possible interactions with nutrient availability. Production data were collected at individual plant basis from 1996 to 2002 in one trial and from 2004 to 2009 in two trials. Cumulative rainfall in the 12 months before harvest (CRF12) was computed per plant from daily rainfall measurements. Average bunch weight ranged from 8.0 to 21.9 kg between trials and cycles and was 8–28% less in dry (CRF12 ≤ 905 mm) than in normal (905
Citation
van Asten, P.; Fermont, A.; Taulya, G. Drought is a major yield loss factor for rainfed East African highland banana. Agricultural Water Management (2011) 98 (4) 541-552. [DOI: 10.1016/j.agwat.2010.10.005]
Links
Drought is a major yield loss factor for rainfed East African highland banana