Understanding productivity of East African highland banana (2009 - 2015)

In 2009, PhD student Godfrey Taulya (affiliated to the PPS group and IITA) carried out groundbreaking research around banana. In East African highland banana (Musa spp. AAA-EA), a primary staple food crop for over 30 million people in East Africa, drought stress, potassium (K) and nitrogen (N) deficiencies are major constraints to productivity. This study explored the main and interactive effects of water, K and N on growth and yield of highland banana. The aim was to build a crop growth model geared towards a decision support tool for managing the crop water and nutrient requirements across agro-ecological zones. To evaluate the highland banana dry matter allocation in response to drought stress and deficiency of K and N, individual plant measurements at harvest from two fertilizer response field trials in central and south western Uganda were analysed. An adapted soil water balance model was linked to the model for potential highland banana production (LINTUL-BANANA1) to explore the water-limited growth and yield of highland bananas in central and south-western Uganda.

Project output:

• Paper: Phenological development of East African highland banana (2014)
• Paper: East African highland bananas worry more about potassium than about drought (2013)
• Paper: Mineral fertilizer response and NUE of East African highland banana (2010)
• PhD thesis: Understanding productivity of East African highland banana (2015)