Standardization of Optimum Planting Time on Yield and Fruit Quality of Banana var. Grand Naine under Mid Hill Condition of Arunachal Himalaya

A field experiment was executed during 2013-16 at ICAR Research Farm, Gori, ICAR (Research Complex) for NEH Region, Arunachal Pradesh Centre, Basar to find out the optimum planting time for yield and quality attributes of Grand Naine banana. The experiment was laid out in RBD having five treatments with four replications. The study divulged that the planting dates had a significant influence on growth, yield and fruit quality of banana. Fruits harvested from mid-may planting recorded the highest in yield based parameters viz. number of hands per bunch (13.17), number of fingers per bunch (162.63) and bunch weight (24.67 kg) respectively. However, fruits from mid-june planting exhibited the highest finger weight (148.67 g) which was statistically at par with mid-may planting (147.54 g). It was noted that plants of mid-june planting produced the maximum number of functional leaves at the shooting stage (15.38) which was found at par with mid-may planting (15.13).The fruit quality attributes like sugars, ascorbic acid, acidity were also influenced by planting times whereas it had no significant effect on TSS content of the fruits. Fruits from mid-may plant recorded the highest TSS (21.03°Brix), minimum acidity (0.23%) and highest ascorbic acid content (14.99 mg per 100 g) followed by mid-june planting with TSS, acidity and ascorbic acid content of (20.56°Brix), (0.24%) and (14.47 mg per 100 g) respectively. Starch content was found maximum in fruits from mid-august planting (2.08%) whereas, minimum starch content was recorded in fruits from mid-june planting (0.71%) inferring that mid-may is the optimum time for planting for Grand Naine variety of banana under subtropical mid-hill conditions of Arunachal Pradesh justifying future actions in the expansion of planting.