Banana-an Apple of Paradise: Effect of Diatomaceous Earth (As a Source of Silicon) on Growth, Yield and Quality of Banana Cv. Grand Naine (Musa Aaa)

An experiment was carried out on banana cv. Grand Naine (Musa AAA) to study the effect of Diatomaceous Earth (As a source of silicon) on growth, yield and quality parameters at farmer?s field of Hirenandi village, taluk Gokak in Belgaumdistrict, during 2013-14. Among the different treatments, maximum pseudostem length(204.67 cm),pseudostem diameter (22.13 cm), number of leaves (21.42) and leaf area(14.51 m)were noticed in the treatment T9(RDF + 750 kg/ha DE) and the lowest were noticed in the treatment T1(Absolute control) at different stages of plant growth. Maximum total chlorophyll (2.323 and 2.413 mg/g at six month after planting and at the time of shooting respectively) was recorded by the treatment T9 whereas the lowest chlorophyll ?a?, chlorophyll ?b?, and total chlorophyll was noticed in the treatment T1. With respect to total crop duration, treatment T8(RDF + 750 kg/ha of DE) has taken less number days (394.50 days) as compared to other treatment. The highest bunch weight of 26.67 kg (69.39 t/ha) was recorded in the treatment T9(RDF + 750 kg/ha DE). Similar trend was also observed for number of hands per bunch, number of fingers per hand,total number of fingers per bunch.