Field Performance of False Horn Plantain (Musa AAB) Corms Treated Mechanically and with Hormone Solutions

Abstract

The growth and yield performance of macropropagated plantlets of the False Horn plantain cultivar ‘Apantu’ was evaluated due to the lack of reliable data on the effectiveness of that planting material under typical farming conditions in West Africa, Ghana. Corms were either mechanically treated by the Plants Issus de Fragments de tige (PIF) technique to destroy the apical meristem or remained intact as untreated controls. Subsequently, PIF-treated corms were vacuum infiltrated with either natural or synthetic plant hormone solutions. Emerging plantlets were harvested, acclimatized for three months and planted in a freshly prepared field. Vegetative growth characteristics of each mother (main) plant were taken at 6 and 9 months after planting and for the main and first sucker crop along with yield parameters at harvest, respectively. The results indicated that treatment induced growth differences at 6 and 9 months after planting and were no longer significant at harvest. Consequently, final growth performance was quite homogenous across all treatments for the main and sucker crop, respectively. In contrast, fruit yield parameters of the main and sucker crops were to some extent affected by treatment; however, hormone infiltration tended to have little additional effect over the PIF-treatment. Nevertheless, treating corms with hormonal solutions enhanced the production of rooted plantlets at the nursery stage and ensured improved field performance.