THE INFLUENCE OF BUD STATE OF BIT PLANTING MATERIAL ON SHOOT EMERGENCE OF BANANA CV WILLIAMS IN NORTH QUEENSLAND

The time from planting to shoot emergence of 3 classes of planting material of banana cv. Williams was studied in the field in North Queensland. Two classes of bits (0.55-1.6 kg), 1 with large lateral buds (forward bits) and the other with small lateral buds (backward bits), and 1 class of suckers (0.55-1.75 kg) were compared. Regressions were fitted using a Mitscherlich equation that described the spread in the population of the time to emergence of the 3 classes of planting material. There was 96% shoot emergence from forward bits and 71% from backward bits by the time of replanting (85 days after planting). The time to 50% of maximum shoot emergence (mean +/- s.e.) was 31 +/- 0.2 days for forward bits and 38 +/- 0.4 days for backward bits; the time to shoot emergence of the former was less variable. Suckers produced 100% shoot emergence by the time of replanting, took the least time to 50% of maximum shoot emergence (29 +/- 0.1 days) and were the least variable of all classes in time to shoot emergence.