Abstract

DELGADO, E; GOMEZ, N; GONZALEZ, O  and  MARIN, C. On farm evaluation of effect of high plant density on plantain (Musa AAB cv. Subgroup Horn plantain), Obispo County, Barinas state, Venezuela. Rev. Fac. Agron. [online]. 2008, vol.25, n.4, pp.603-616. ISSN 0378-7818.

The objective of this study was to evaluate the productive performance of Horn plantain (AAB) under high plant density in one cycle at farm site in Obispo County, Barinas state, Venezuela. A validation on a farm site approach was used. Two plots of 1 ha each were established without control for Black Sigatoka, one with a traditional density of 3x3 (1.100 plants.ha^-1) and the other with 2x2 (2.500 plants.ha^-1) both conducted by farmer. A random sample of plants was selected 40 plants from the traditional plot and 20 plants from the high density plot to score data: Bunch weight, finger weight, plant high, number of leaves at flowering, number of leaves at harvesting and diameter of pseudo stem. Highly significant differences were found on high density on bunch weight, finger weight, diameter of `pseudo stem and number of leaves at flowering and harvesting. The yield on traditional density was 8.5 t.ha^-1 vs. 35 t.ha^-1 on high density. The high density allow farmers to get more t.ha^-1 of fruit and a better income per ha.

Keywords : Musa; plantain; high density; cultural practices.