Abstract
Soon after flowering, bunches of the Musa AAB clone 'Superplátano' (Superplantain) were trimmed to 4, 5 or 6 hands to determine the effect of pruning on fruit grade and marketable yields. Unpruned bunches of the horn-type 'Maricongo' plantain were included as control. Fruits in bunches pruned to 4 and 5 hands exceeded the mean weight of 270 g, a criterion used locally to render horn-type plantains marketable. 'Superplátano' bunches trimmed to 4 and 5 hands yielded 146,800 and 180,200 marketable fruits/ha, respectively. This represented a yield increase of about 26,000 and 59,400 fruits/ha, over the unpruned horn-type 'Maricongo' cultivar. The reduction of hands in the 'Superplátano' bunch significantly increased length, thickness and weight of fruits in the proximal and distal hands.