Yield loss management through fertilizers in Banana bract mosaic virus affected French plantain cv. Nendran (AAB)

Abstract

Plant virus infection significantly reduces the yield of many horticultural crops causing reduction in the production and productivity. Higher fertilizer application has often to overcome the yield reduction due to virus in many crops. A field experiment was conducted to find out the effect of increased doses of fertilizers on the banana bract mosaic virus (BBrMV) infected plants of French plantain cv. Nendran. The plant height, girth, number of leaves, number of fingers and the bunch weight had significantly increased with increased dose of fertilizer in the first and second crops with BBrMV infection. In the first crop, with the application of 125 and 150% of recommended dose of fertilizers (RDF), the BBrMV infected plants could produce bunches which were on par with that of healthy plants, receiving 100% RDF, but with prolonged days of flowering. In the second crop, though 125 and 150% RDF doses in the infected plants increased the bunch weight over 100% RDF by 14.60% and 18.33%, respectively, could not be able to compensate the yield loss due to virus infection. This may probably be due to the accumulation of virus over the period of two years. This is the first report on strategies for mitigating adverse effects of BBrMV in plantain.