TY - JOUR AU - Irizarry, Héber AU - Rivera, Edmundo AU - Krikorian, Abraham D. AU - Rodríguez, José A. PY - 1991/04/01 Y2 - 2024/03/29 TI - Proper bunch management of the French-type superplantain (Musa acuminata x M. balbisiana, AAB) in Puerto Rico JF - The Journal of Agriculture of the University of Puerto Rico JA - JAUPR VL - 75 IS - 2 SE - Articles DO - 10.46429/jaupr.v75i2.3579 UR - https://revistas.upr.edu/index.php/jaupr/article/view/3579 SP - 163-171 AB - <p>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.</p> ER -