The effect of different plastic covering materials on growth, yield and quality of banana (Musa spp. AAA)

In recent years, the interest in plastic as a covering material has increased due to its lower cost compared to materials like glass and certain other coverings, as well as the technological advancements enabling the production of diverse covering materials with unique properties such as UV and IR resistance, and anti-fog capabilities. Notably, the field of protected banana cultivation in Turkey has witnessed significant progress, consequently impacting banana production. This trend has prominently emphasized the application of plastics with distinct characteristics, particularly those developed through nanotechnology. Therefore, the present study aims to investigate the effects of traditional plastic cover (plastic cover type I) and nanotechnology-based plastic cover (plastic cover type II) on the growth, development, yield and selected quality parameters of two different banana cultivars. The study was conducted on the Grand Nain and Williams banana varieties between 2022 and 2023 at the Research and Application fields of the Faculty of Agriculture, Akdeniz University. In the research, in addition to some morphological attributes such as stem height, stem circumference, total leaf count, active leaf count, and pseudostem circumference; parameters such as the time from bunch formation to harvesting (fruit development period), banana hand numbers, finger numbers, bunch weight and yield per decare were evaluated. In addition, post-harvest considerations encompassed certain physical characteristics of the fruits, including banana finger weight, finger circumference, and finger length. Following fruit ripening, physical and pomological characteristics including finger weight, peel weight, fruit flesh weight, peel thickness, peel ratio, fruit flesh ratio, flesh firmness, soluble solid content (SSC), and fruit peel color were analyzed. Based on the results of the study, plastic cover type II exhibited higher temperature and relative humidity compared to plastic cover type I. Moreover, plastic cover type II gave superior results in parameters like finger weight, SSC, bunch weight, yield, and time from bunch emergence to fruit harvesting compared to plastic cover type I. The yield per decare was recorded as 3.90 tons/da for plastic cover type I and 4.07 tons/da for plastic cover type II. As a result of the research findings, the utilization of plastic cover type II is recommended which is tested in our study.