- Enhanced growth
- Improved yield
- Higher income for the grower
- Better Nutrient Use Efficiency
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 |
** 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
