Impact of coconut husk biochar on soil physical and biological properties, growth characters and yield of banana

A field experiment was conducted at College of Agriculture, Vellayani, Kerala Agricultural University during, 2016-17 to study the impact of biochar derived from tender coconut husk on soil physical and biological properties, growth characters, total dry matter production, yield and fruit quality of banana. The experiment was laid out in randomly block design replicated thrice with eleven treatments using Nendran as the test variety of banana. The results revealed that the application of biochar @ 10 kg plant-1 coupled with 75% STBR (Soil Test Based fertilizer Recommendation) enhanced the physical properties of the soil by imparting 57.11% increase in the water holding capacity (WHC), 35.32% increase in porosity, 7.31% decrease in the bulk density (BD) and 55.9% enhancement in soil dehydrogenase activity. Plant biometric characters like plant height at 2, 4, 6 and 8 months after planting (MAP), number of leaves per plant at 2 and 6 MAP, pseudo stem girth at 4 and 8 MAP, total dry matter production (12742.15 kg ha-1), weight of bunch (9.34 kg), number of hands per bunch (5.25), number of fingers per bunch (46.16), length (22.83 cm) and girth (12.73 cm) of the index finger were highest recorded with same treatment. Simultaneously, fruit quality parameters like TSS (34 0 B), ascorbic acid content (2.18 mg 100 g-1) and shelf life (9.66 days) of fruits were found to be superior with application of biochar @ 10 kg plant-1 coupled with 75% (NPK + secondary & micronutrients as per STBR) treatment.