OA10328A - Method of improving banana fruit yields - Google Patents

Abstract

Trees of the families Musaceae or Plantanginaceae which share a common root system are protected from destructive pests by cutting one of the trees to remove its fruit and then reintroducing a pesticide into the cut tree.

Description

01 »328 Method for improving banana fruit yields 5

The present invention relates to a method for improving fruit yields of bananas.

Banana fruit yield is currently 40 tonnes per hectare and up to 60 tonnes per hectare in the best conditions. This yield may however be limited by the presence of diseases such as Fusarium wilt or Sigatoka but also by other factors. It is therefore always desirable to increase this yield of fruit, for reasons which are quite understandable of profitability, and independently of, in particular, diseases which bananas may be suffering from or which can be supposed to be affected.

It is thus particularly interesting to increase the average weight per plant of the banana diets produced by a banana plantation.

An increase in this average weight, even a small one, corre- sponds to the very high production per hectare of an additional crop of fruits, the quantitative importance of which is particularly appreciable.

An object of the present invention is therefore to increase the yield of fruit banana plantations.

Another object of the present invention is to increase the yield of banana plantations, irrespective of the diseases of which these banana plants may be affected or which may be expected to be affected.

Another object of the present invention is to increase the average weight per plant banana diets produced by a banana plantation, and regardless of the diseases which these bananas may be affected or which we can assume that they will be reached. It has been found that these goals can be achieved in whole or in part by means of the method of treatment according to the invention.

The subject of the present invention is therefore a method for improving fruit yields of bananas, characterized in that an effective and non-phytotoxic dose of a compound A selected from: ο 1 (13 2) is applied to bananas. s - the salts of a mono-alkyl phosphite and a mono-, di- or trivalent metal cation, such as osteyl-Al, or - phosphorous acid and its alkali or alkaline earth salts.

Fosetyl-Al is aluminum tris-O-ethyl phosphonate, described in "The Pesticide Manual" 9th edition, by Charles R. Worthing and Raymond J. Hope published by the British Crop Protection Council.

The dose of compound A applied is likely to vary within wide limits depending on the climatic conditions, the culture conditions, and the frequency of treatments performed. For convenience, this dose is expressed as the equivalent weight of phosphorous acid, formula H3PO3, applied per hectare. This formose is in general between 0.7 and 17 kg / ha, preferably between 1.5 and 10.5 kg / ha. The calculation from this dose of the dose of a specific compound A is conveniently made taking into account the molar mass of said compound and that of the phosphorous acid. In the case where the specific compound A is a salt of a mono-alkyl phosphite and a di- or trivalent metal cation, the valence number of the corresponding cation should also be considered.

According to an advantageous variant of the invention, the compound A applied is Fosetyl-Al. In this case, the dose of compound A, expressed by weight of osteyl-Al applied per hectare, is between 1 and 25 kg / ha, preferably between 2 and 15 kg / ha.

According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, the banana plants on which compound A is applied are healthy banana trees. Healthy banana means banana plants with no characteristic symptoms of diseases or parasites known to affect them, such as, but not limited to, Fusarium wilt or Sigatoka disease. Healthy bananas may be especially bananas that are subject to a conventional preventive treatment against fungal diseases, said treatment being known to have no effect on fruit yield.

Compound A may be applied by spraying on the aerial parts of the banana plants, by any means known per se such as by a spray or by air. In this case, the dose of the compound A applied, expressed in equivalent weight of phosphorous acid, is usually between 0.7 and 7 kg / ha, preferably between 1.5 and 3.5 kg / ha. This treatment may be advantageously repeated 3 times during the year following the first treatment.

When, according to a preferred variant of the present invention, compound A is Fosetyl-Al, the dose of compound A is between 1 and 10 kg / ha, preferably between 2 and 5 kg / ha.

According to another preferred variant of the invention, compound A is applied by injection into the pseudostem by any means known per se.Injection can be carried out in the pseudostem of banana which is enrage, and will give the fruits of the next harvest. The injection can also be performed cumulatively in the pseudostem section of banana plants. Pseudo-trunk of banana plants means the bunch of these plants, which is of a non-woody nature. By section of the pseudo-trunk, we mean the section obtained by cutting the pseudo-trunk preceding that growing at a certain height above the ground (between 0.5 and 2.5 m), during the last banana harvest. The application of compound A may be by injection or by simply pouring a treatment liquid comprising A in a cavity of the order of 5 cm of depth, arranged in this section. This technique of application makes it possible to reduce the frequency of the treatments by carrying out only 1 treatment during the period separating the production of 2 banana bunches by the same plant. It also makes it possible to operate this treatment at the time of harvesting the banana diet on the plant. This results in appreciable time savings for farmers.

In other words, for the purposes of the present invention, it is to be understood that a conventional technique for the cultivation of bananas consists in planting bananas as mother plants and growing them on large batches or plantations. Each mother plant thus disposed of has a series (For example 1 to 5, usually 1 to 3 days of shoots, that is to say, seedlings, whose growth is made from the balance (ie the base of the pseudostem) of the mother plant. mother and daughter plants share a common root system At an appropriate time before harvesting the fruit of the mother plant, all girls are removed except for one per mother plant, this preserved seed being the one judged by the farmer As a result of this practice, the new generation of banana plants can be easily and quickly produced. is possible after harvest of the parent plants, but it is better to do it before for agronomic reasons.

Bananas are harvested simply by cutting the fruit diets.

After that, the mother trees are cut to remove the canopy of foliage. The 5 preserved pseudo-trunks have a height which goes from 0.5 to 2.5 m, the cut thus made leaving a section, as defined above, in the open air. Such a practice facilitates the growth of seedlings. The pseudo-trunk of the mother plant is then left as it is until it decays or is cut in stages until it subsists more than just the pseudostem trunk of the daughter plant. Compound A is, by this variant of the invention, injected or applied in the section of the pseudostem of the mother plant as described above. This treatment, via the section of the pseudostem trunk of the mother plant, is to improve the banana yield of the daughter plant.

According to a particularly preferred variant of the invention, an additional dose of compound A is injected into the pseudostem of the daughter plant generally at the flowering stage.

In the case of this application by injection, the dose of compound A applied, expressed in weight equivalent of phosphorous acid, is usually between 1.5 and 17 kg / ha, preferably between 2.5 and 10.5 kg / lia, Generally corresponding to a dose of compound A of between 0.75 and 9 g per plant, preferably between 1.5 and 5.5 g per plant.

In the latter case, when the compound A is Fosetyl-AI, the decomposed dose A is between 2 and 25 kg / ha, preferably between 4 and 15 kg / ha, generally corresponding to a dose of Fosetyl-Al between 1 and 12.5 g 2.5 per plant, preferably between 2 and 7.5 g per plant.

For its practical application on banana plants, the compound Aesr. implemented in the form of a composition also object of the invention.

The banana fruit yield improving composition, which is the subject of the invention, usually comprises 0.5 to 95% of compound A in combination with an agriculturally acceptable carrier.

It may furthermore comprise all the usual additives or adjuvants of the phytosanitary compositions, in particular surfactants, adhesion promoters and fluent agents.

By the term "carrier", in the present description, means an organic or inorganic material, natural or synthetic, with which the active ingredients are associated to facilitate their application to the plant. This carrier is therefore generally inert and must be acceptable in agriculture, especially on the treated plant. The support may be solid (clays, natural or synthetic silicates, silica, resins, waxes, solid fertilizers, etc.) or liquid (water, alcohols, ketones, petroleum fractions, aromatic or paraffinic hydrocarbons, chlorinated hydrocarbons, liquefied gases , etc ...). The surfactant may be an emulsifying, dispersing or wetting agent of ionic or nonionic type. There may be mentioned, for example, salts of polyacrylic acids, salts of lignosulfonic acids, salts of phenolsulphonic or naphthalenesulphonic acids, polycondensates of ethylene oxide with fatty alcohols or with fatty acids or with fatty amines, with substituted phenols (especially alkylphenols or arylphenols), sulphosuccinic acid ester salts, taurine derivatives (especially alkyltaurates), phosphoric esters of polyoxyethylated alcohols or phenols. The presence of at least a surfactant is desirable to promote the dispersion of the active ingredients in water and their good application to plants. This composition may also contain any kind of other ingredients such as, for example, protective colloids, adhesives, thickeners, thixotropic agents, penetrating agents, stabilizers, sequestering agents, pigments, dyes, polymers. .

More generally, the composition that can be used in the process according to the invention and / or object of the invention may include all the solid or liquid additives corresponding to the usual techniques for the formulation of phytosanitary products.

This composition may be in solid, gelled or liquid form, and in the latter case in the form of solutions or suspensions. Liquid compositions are preferred both because of their ease of use and because of their simplicity of manufacture.

As forms of solid compositions, mention may be made of dust or dispersion powders (with an active compound content of up to 100%), wettable powders and dispersible or soluble granules. rnrrvr · »

Wettable powders (or spray powders) as well as dispersible granules usually contain from 20 to 95% active ingredients, and in addition to the solid carrier, from 0 to 5% of a wetting agent, from 3 to 10% of a dispersing agent, and, when necessary, from 0 to 10% of one or more stabilizers and / or other additives, such as pigments, dyes, penetrants, adhesives, or anti-caking agents, dyes, etc ... It is understood that some of these compositions, such as wettable powders or dispersible granules, are intended to constitute liquid compositions during application. As forms of liquid compositions, there may be mentioned solutions, in particular water-soluble concentrates, concentrated suspensions, pastes.

Soluble concentrates most often comprise 10 to 80% active matter, the solutions ready for application containing, for their part, 0.01 to 20% of active ingredient. As already mentioned, the aqueous dispersions, for example the compositions obtained by diluting with water a wettable powder according to the invention, are included in the general scope of the present invention.

Concentrated suspensions, also applicable in spraying, are a stable fluid product, not giving rise to thickening or sediment formation after storage, and usually contain from 10 to 10%. 75% active ingredients, 0.5 to 15% surfactants, 0.1 to 10% thixotropic agents, 0 to 10% suitable additives, such as pigments, descolers, anti-foams , corrosion inhibitors, stabilizers, penetrating agents and adhesives and, as a carrier, water or an organic liquid in which the active ingredients are poorly or not soluble: certain organic solids or inorganic salts may be dissolved in the reports to help prevent sedimentation or as antifreeze for water.

The compositions described above are prepared according to methods known per se.

Thus, in order to obtain the spraying powders or wettable powders, the active ingredients are intimately mixed in suitable mixers with the additional substances and ground with mills or other grinders. Spray powders are thereby obtained, the wettability and suspension of which are advantageous; they can be suspended with water at any desired concentration and these suspensions can be used very advantageously especially for application to the aerial parts of plants. Instead of the wettable powders, concentrated pastes or suspensions can be produced. The conditions and methods of production and use of these pastes are similar to those of wettable powders or sprayable powders, part of the necessary grinding operation being simply carried out in a liquid medium.

The dispersible granules are usually prepared by agglomeration or extrusion or compaction, in suitable granulation systems, of wettable powder compositions.

The following examples are given purely by way of illustration and nonlimiting of the advantageous properties of the process and of the composition according to the invention.

Example 1 In Vivo Assay of a Composition Comprising Fosetyl-On a Banana Planting: The test is conducted on a banana plantation having reached a stage of regular fruit production. This planting is also treated periodically throughout the duration of the test by means of a conventional preventive treatment against various fungal diseases, as well as insects and nematodes, which treatment is known to have no effect of the type of those observed below with Fosetyl-Al.

The duration of the test is 2 years.

At the beginning of the first year, treatment with Fosetyl-Al is initiated. This is followed by a wettable powder formulation of acetyl-Al diluted in water before use, which is applied by means of a knapsack sprayer. The application rate is 6.4 kg Fosetyl-Al per hectare. This application of Fosetyl-Al is repeated every 3 months for the duration of the test.

The average weight of a banana diet harvested per plant is measured. The average lighter of this weight, during the 2nd year of the test, is equal to 39.8kg. 010328

In comparison, a control test was performed, in which there was no application of Fosetyl-Al, the protocol being otherwise identical. This test yielded 38.4 kg for the average weight of a banana crop per plant, measured under the same conditions as before. 5

Such a difference, amounting to 5% in relative value, corresponds to a considerable amount of additional fruit, of the order of 2 tonnes in the case where the yield of the banana plantation is 40 tonnes / hectare of bananas. 10

Example 2 In Vivo Test of a Composition Comprising Fosétyl-Alsur on a Banana Planting:

Example 1 is repeated by treating a plantation on a different type of soil and processing by air. The doses of Fosetyl-Al applied are indicated in the table below as well as the average banana weights obtained.

Average weight of a diet (kg) Dose of Fosetyl-Al 3.2 38.9 (kg / ha) 6.4 39.7 20

Control test 37.4

The differences observed also correspond to a very appreciable improvement in fruit yield. 25

Example 3 In Vivo Test of Application of a Composition Comprising Fosetyl-AI by Injection into the Growing Pseudostem: The test is conducted on a banana plantation having reached a stage of regular production in fruits. This planting is also periodically treated throughout the duration of the test by means of a conventional preventive treatment against various fungal diseases, as well as against pests and nematodes, which treatment is known to have no such effects. of those observed below with Fosetyl-Al.

One month before the flowering is carried out an injection of Fosetyl-Al into the pseudostem of growing bananas, at a rate of 6 kg / ha (ie 3 g of Fosetyl-Al per plant).

The fruits are harvested 4 months later. The average weight of the debananes diet is 31.4 kg. The average weight of a banana diet corresponding to the control test (untreated banana) is 28.3 kg. 15

Claims (10)

OI 0328 1. A method of improving banana fruit yields, characterized in that an effective and nonphytotoxic dose of a compound A, selected from: - the salts of a mono-alkyl phosphite and a mono-, di- or tri-valent metal cation, such as osteyl-Al, or phosphorous acid and its alkali or alkaline earth salts. 2. Method according to claim 1, characterized in that the decomposed dose A, expressed in weight equivalent of phosphorous acid, is between 0.7 and 17 kg / ha, preferably between 1.5 and 10.5 kg. /Ha. 3. Method according to one of claims 1 or 2, characterized in that compound A is Fosetyl-Al. 4. Method according to claim 3, characterized in that the dosage of osteyl-Al is between 1 and 25 kg / ha, preferably between 2 and 15 kg / ha. 5. Method according to one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that the compound A is applied to healthy banana trees. 25 6. Method according to one of claims I to 5, characterized in that the compound A is applied by spraying on the aerial parts of the decananiers plants at a dose, expressed by weight equivalent of phosphorous acid, between 0.7 and 7. kg / ha, preferably between 1.5 and 3.5 kg / ha. 30 7. Method according to claim 6, characterized in that the compound Aesa Fosetyl-Al applied at a dose of between 1 and 10 kg / ha, preferablyenare 2 and 5 kg / ha. 8. Method according to one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that compound A is applied by injection into the pseudostem of banana plants at a dose, expressed by weight equivalent of acid. phosphorus, between 1.5 and 17 kg / ha, preferably between 2.5 and 10.5 kg / ha. 5 9. Method according to claim 8, characterized in that the Aest compound, after harvesting bananas from the mother plant, applied in the pseudo-trunk section of the mother plant, by injection or by simply pouring a treatment liquid comprising A, and / or in the pseudo-trunk of the daughter plant by injection. 10 10. Method according to one of claims 8 or 9, characterized in that compound A is Fosetyl-Al applied at a dose of between 2 and 25 kg / ha, preferably between 4 and 15 kg / ha. 11. A composition improving the fruit yield of bananas, comprising from 0.5 to 95% of compound A as defined in claim 1, in association with an agriculturally acceptable carrier.