Enhanced banana productivity, soil microbial community structure, and Fusarium wilt resistance by ultra-wide-narrow row planting pattern

TL;DR

A new banana planting pattern improves productivity, fruit quality, and resistance to disease while supporting sustainable farming.

Contribution

The ultra-wide-narrow row planting pattern (T5M) is introduced as a novel solution for sustainable banana production.

Findings

T5M increased productivity by 23.27-40.12% and fruit quality compared to other configurations.

T5M reduced Fusarium wilt and enriched beneficial soil microbes like Actinobacteriota.

T5M improved nutrient uptake and soil nitrogen and potassium availability.

Abstract

The sustainability of banana production is severely constrained by labor intensiveness, Fusarium wilt epidemics, and mechanization incompatibility under conventional planting systems. A three-year (2019-2021) investigation systematically evaluated three distinct planting configurations for simultaneously addressing these challenges while maintaining consistent plant density at 2220 plants ha-¹. The three planting configurations included T3M (3.0 m/1.5 m wide-narrow row, 2.0 m spacing), T5M (5.0 m/1.5 m ultra-wide-narrow row, 1.4 m spacing), T6M (5.0 m/1.5 m ultra-wide-narrow row, 1.2 m spacing). T5M demonstrated superior performance across agronomic and biochemical parameters. T5M outperformed T6M by 23.27-40.12% greater productivity with 8.13% higher fruit number per bunch, while maintaining T3M’s commercial harvest stability and fruit quality, stable and higher commercial harvest rates. T5M enhanced fruit quality over T6M in 2021, increasing total soluble solids by 15.81%, ascorbic acid by 18.35%, and sugar-acid ratio by 16.93%. T5M prioritized reproductive growth, increasing aboveground biomass 12.99% and fruit dry matter 18.73% over T3M in 2021.Compared to T6M, T5M improved nutrient cycling, enhanced aboveground N, P and K uptake by 15.68%, 12.88% and 12.26% respectively. Soil available nitrogen increased 18.19% versus T3M, with available potassium rosing 11.46% over T6M. T5M selectively modified soil microbiomes while preserving pH and organic matter stability. Microbial analysis showed Actinobacteriota enrichment increased 26.03% alongside Fusarium reduction by 31.50%, with redundancy analysis identifying organic matter as the major restructuring driver. These findings position the 5-meter ultra-wide-narrow row configuration as an innovative solution simultaneously enhancing yield, mechanization efficiency and pathogen suppression for sustainable banana production systems.

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