Login | Request Account (DAF staff only)

Banana root and soil health project - Australia

Share this record

Add to FacebookAdd to LinkedinAdd to XAdd to WechatAdd to Microsoft_teamsAdd to WhatsappAdd to Any

Export this record

Pattison, A. B., Smith, L., Moody, P., Armour, J., Badcock, K., Cobon, J. A., Rasiah, V., Lindsay, S. J. and Gulino, L. (2005) Banana root and soil health project - Australia. In: Banana Root System: towards a better understandingfor its productive management : Proceedings of an international symposium, 3-5 November 2003, San José, Costa Rica,.

[img]
Preview
PDF
537kB

Article Link: https://www.bioversityinternational.org/e-library/...

Abstract

The banana plant forms an adventitious root system that is dependent on soil physical, chemical and biological properties to function efficiently. A pot experiment demonstrated that increasing soil compaction was able to significantly reduce the weight of banana roots and shoots. However, in the presence of Radopholus similis the effects of soil compaction were obscured, due to the significant reduction in root weight caused by the nematode. The use of a basic set of soil quality indicators that can be readily used by farmers, was linked to soil nematode indicators to determine relationships between soil properties. In a survey of banana fields in North Queensland, different diameter root classes were affected differently by changing soil properties. Banana roots greater than 5 mm diameter were positively correlated with aggregate stability and negatively correlated with soil bulk density. Banana roots less than 1 mm were positively correlated with electrical conductivity. Specific interactions between soil properties become apparent as crop production systems become more uniform. This allows farmers to prioritise management options to improve the most deficient soil health indicators. The addition of organic amendments is one possible method of correcting degrading soils. The use of amendments with high carbon contents, such as grass hay, banana trash and lucerne hay, were able to significantly suppress R. similis in the roots of banana plants relative to untreated soil. Due to banana production being located near environmentally sensitive areas there is an increasing need to monitor and modify soil management practices. However, this needs to be linked with a framework that allows the integration of all soil components with a system to allow continual improvement in soil management to allow banana production to have minimal impact on the surrounding environment.

Item Type:Conference or Workshop Item (Paper)
Business groups:Horticulture and Forestry Science
Additional Information:Open access PDF attached
Subjects:Agriculture > Agriculture (General) > Soils. Soil science
Agriculture > Agriculture (General) > Soils. Soil science > Soil chemistry
Plant culture > Food crops
Plant culture > Fruit and fruit culture > Culture of individual fruits or types of fruit > Bananas
Live Archive:29 Sep 2020 00:03
Last Modified:04 Nov 2022 00:37

Repository Staff Only: item control page

Downloads

Downloads per month over past year

View more statistics