Environmental influences on shoot and root growth in banana and plantain

Blomme, G., Swennen, R. & Tenkouano, A. (2005). Environmental influences on shoot and root growth in banana and plantain. African Crop Science Conference Proceedings (p. 1163-1167), Entebbe, Uganda, 2005.

Studies on the influence of environmental conditions on Musa plant growth have predominantly focused on dessert bananas (Musa AAA group). The effect of location, field within location and planting date on shoot and root traits of field-grown flowering plants of 6 Musa spp. genotypes belonging to 4 Musa groups was determined in this study. Results show that Musa spp. are highly sensitive to environmental changes and that soil structure, soil fertility and water regime can have significant effects on productivity. In consequence comparison of growth performance of different varieties can only be done for plants grown under exactly the same conditions

Les etudes sur I'influence des conditions environnementales sur la croissance des plantes Musa avaient surtout focalise surla banane de dessert (groupe Musa AAA). L'effet de I'emplacement, le champ a l'interieur de I 'emplacement et la date de plantationsur le rejeton et les traits de racines des plantes de floraison cultivees au champ de 6 genotypes Musa spp appartenant aux quatregroupes de Musa etait determine dans cette etude. Les resultats montrent que les Musa spp. sont hautement sensibles aux changementsenvironnementaux et que la structure du sol, la fertilite du sol, et le regime d'eau peuvent avoir des effets significatifs sur laproductivite. En consequence la comparaison de la performance de croissance des differentes varietes peut seulement etre faite pourla croissance des plantes sous des conditions exacteme~t les memes.