Introduction
Banana (Musa spp.) is the most widely cultivated and consumed fruit in Sri Lanka. It is also an attractive perennial fruit crop for farmers due to its high economic gains throughout the year. Currently, nearly 60,000 ha (20000ha and 40000 ha in wet zone and dry + intermediate zones respectively) of land is under banana cultivation in Sri Lanka.It is about 54% of the total fruit lands.13000 ha use to cultivate Plantain and other 47000 ha lands use as fruit banana.Annual banana production is around 780,000 metric tonnes and average yield is 13 Mt/ha.
From the total production there are about 35-45 % under post harvest losses and export amount is 5 %.
When consider the production it is the 4th important crop in the world.As well as 2nd important fruit crop in the world.
History
Origin of banana was Southwest Asia. Musa accuminata and Musa balbesiana were the ordinary wild species and modern varieties were formed with mixing that two species. Those are 2n, 3n, 4n.
Order – Seitamineae
Family – Musaceae
Genus – Musa
Wild varieties – Musa coccinea
fibre varieties – Musa textiles
fruit varieties – Musa sapientum
plantain varieties – Musa paradisiana
Morphology
Banana is the biggest herb in the world. Banana trunk is a pseudo stem. So, it is an erect and covered with leaf sheaths. Banana doesn’t have a tap root system but lateral root system. Corm is the heart of the banana plant which produces the pseudo stem. Leaves are broad in appearance having 3-3.5m and 65 cm in length and width respectively. Height of well grown banana plant is 3-15 m and weight of a bunch and length of a fruit are 22-65 Kg (In Sri Lanka it is around 11-40 Kg) and 4-12 inches respectively. There are 50-150 fruits in a bunch.
Nutrient composition of a fruit
H2O – 75%
Carbohydrates – 21%
Protein – 1%
Fat – 1%
Fibre – 1%
Ash – 1%
Varieties in Sri Lanka
In dry zone
Fruit varieties
Seeni kesel,
Ambul,
Ambun,
Rathambala,
Anamalu,
Kandula,
Kolikuttu,
nadee
Plaintain varieties
Pulathisi,
Prasad,
Mondan,
Atamaru,
Ash plaintains
In wet zone
Fruit varieties
Puwalu,
Ambun,
IC-2,
Ambul,
Nadee,
Seeni kesel,
Bin kesel
Plaintain varieties
Prasad,
Mondan,
Atamaru,
Meti kithala
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