The Effect of Foliar Application of 6-Benzyladenine (BA) on Banana (Musa spp. L.) Sucker Production

Abstract

A field experiment was conducted to determine the influence of foliar application of 6-benzyladenine (BA) on sucker production on banana plants. The treatments were five concentration of 6-benzyladenine 10 mg/l, 100 mg/l, 250 mg/l, 500 mg/l and 0 mg/1 (control as a single foliar spray to runoff at 3 different times (January, Mach and May) after one month from planting. BA at 100 mg/1 stimulated lateral bud growth during the current season. The effectiveness of BA in breaking bud growth seems to be influenced by the time of application after planting. For optimum response to BA multiple spray applications to actively growing banana plants in non-fruiting condition were required. The results indicated that BA application may be a useful method for increasing sucker production in banana plant