Salt helps raise banana yield

Common salt can induce banana plants to yield more and better quality fruits.

Not only that: it can make the plants resistant to banana diseases.

This was found in a study done by researchers of the Department of Agriculture-Philippine Coconut Authority-Davao Researcher Center (DA-PCA-DRC).

The study, conducted by Millicent I. Secretaria, Severino S. Magat, and Marianita N. Eroy, was among the winners in the 2008 National Research Symposium (R&D competition) sponsored by the Bureau of Agricultural Research (BAR).

The researchers conducted a technology-demonstration trial on the use of common salt on cooking “Cardaba” banana under bearing Laguna Tall (LAOT) coconuts at the DA-PCA-DRC in Bago Oshiro, Davao City.

“The application of one kilogram of NaCl on the hole of stump of harvested banana adjacent to plants with developing inflorescence effectively controlled the incidence of “bugtok” disease of ‘Cardaba’,” the researchers noted.

For the first time, they added, the trial confirmed the effective control of “bugtok” disease using common salt as reported in 2003 by researchers of the Central Mindanao University (CMU) in Musuan, Bukidnon.

The researchers observed “remarkable improvement in fruit quality and yield (increase over the control by 8.6 kg fruit per plant or 4.26 tons per hectare per cropping year)”.

Nutrient analysis of banana leaves (at pre-flowering stage) showed that common salt application enhanced potassium (K) absorption from the soil, resulting in high K concentration in banana leaf tissue.

With one kilogram NaCl per stump of recently harvested plant, adjacent to newly flowering plant, different leaf nutrient levels of elements (nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, calcium, magnesium, sodium, chloride, sulfur, boron, iron, manganese, copper, and zinc) are considered adequate for a productive “buktok” disease-free banana as intercrop in coconut farms, the researchers concluded. – Rudy A. Fernandez