Better Banana Crops with Haifa Nutrition

  • Enhanced growth
  • Improved yield
  • Higher income for the grower
  • Better Nutrient Use Efficiency
In a demo plot in Colima state, Mexico, Haifa’s nutritional program for banana was compared with the grower’s practice.
Banana variety: Enano Gigante

 

Treatments:

Treatment Fertilizer Number of applications Rate per application Kg/year/plant Kg/year/ha Nutrient units/ha
N P2O5 K2O
Haifa treatment Multicote™ Agri (8) 20-2-29 2 0.25 kg/plant 0.5 1000 200 20 290
Grower’s practice Granular fertilizer
15-5-20
6 0.25 kg/plant 1.5 3000 450 150 600


In addition to ground fertilization, Multi-npK™ was applied to both plots by foliar sprays according to the grower’s common practice.

 


Results

Measures taken throughout the season, showed that Multicote™ Agri resulted in better plant development.


Number of leaves




Plant height




Stem diameter



Yield results and economic analysis

Treatment Fruit yield per plant No. of export boxes* Revenue per 2,000 plants Cost of treatment Labor cost** Net benefit
Multicote™ Agri 9 hands per cluster, total of 115 fingers 1.04 13,100 $US 3,100 $US 25 $US 9,975 $US
Conventional 6 hands per cluster, total of 77 fingers 0.7 8,800 $US 1,650 $US 75 $US 7,075 $US
* Export box contains 18 kg, 110 fingers in average
** 12.5 $US/ha per application



The results demonstrate the benefits of Multicote™ Agri controlled release nutrition, which become very significant under the conditions prevailing in the area where the trial was carried out:
  • Heavy rains from August to November cause significant leaching of nutrients from conventional fertilizers, while Multicote™ technology eliminates losses by leaching.
  • The rains and consequent mud also make the mid-season fertilizer applications troublesome. With reduced number of applications, Multicote™ Agri eases this problem.
  • Due to the gradual release of nutrients and reduced application rates, Multicote™ Agri minimizes salinity build-up, which is important as the irrigation water is very hard and relatively saline. 


Learn more about Haifa’s nutritional solutions for banana