Growth and development of fruit bunch in musa acuminata cv. berangan

Banana is considered to be one of the most important cultivated tropical fruits in Malaysia which ranks next to durian in area and production. Bananas are a very important commodity for developing country not only as staple commodity but also as a fundamental export commodity. In Malaysia, banana occupies an area of about 26,000 hectare with a total production of 530,000 metric tonnes. About 50% of the banana growing land in Malaysia is cultivated with Pisang Berangan and Cavendish type. The physical appearance of the peel is especially important for export market. Buyers require consistent supplies of uniform colored fruit with blemish-free peels. The ability to produce quality fruit becomes difficult due to various types of mechanical injury and insect damage imparted on the delicate peel surface during growth and development. The practice of using banana bunch covers allow for production of high quality banana fruits that are not bruised, and hence have acceptable visual appearance. The study reported here verifies quantitatively growth and development of bunch and fruit as influenced by bunch covers. The parameters measured include finger girth, finger length, and fruit bunch weight at harvest, ripening stages and fruit sweetness. After harvest, fruits are allowed to ripen, and sweetness test conducted on samples. The results indicated no significant difference in the measured parameters between covered and non-covered treatments except for finger length. However the distinct advantage of using bunch covers is that the practice produces uniform green and clean peel surface which cosmetically it enables the growers to fetch high market price for export market, thus increased farm income. It is not advisable to use bunch covers for local market as the parameters monitored proved that is no significant different between the bunch management practices for Musa acuminata cv. Berangan.