Banana Fruit Production in More Temperate Climates: Making a Case for Banana Fruit Production in Coastal Alabama

Fruit and vegetable crop diversity is being encouraged in farm operations as a means to increase economic sustainability while a growing body of evidence suggests that increased consumption of fruits and vegetables reduces the risk of diet-related chronic diseases.  At the confluence of these two issues rests opportunities for niche market crops such as banana fruit.  The US is the world’s largest consumer of bananas, which have traditionally been a product of the tropics.  More recently, banana cultivars have been developed that are cold-tolerant and short-cycled and can be cultivated in the subtropics of the US.  Other countries in the subtropics such as Australia and South Africa have successful banana production operations.  The purpose of this project is to determine best suited cultivars for production in coastal Alabama and compare phenological parameter data to data in the literature from studies conducted in other subtropical regions.  Thirteen banana cultivars were planted in Fairhope, AL on June 5, 2013.  Bananas were blocked by type and planted using a single-plant, completely randomized design.  Phenological parameters measured included leaf emergence rate (LER), leaf area, leaf area index (LAI), plant height, pseudostem circumference, total leaf number, number and type of sucker produced.  Preliminary results are encouraging.  Cardinal temperatures for banana production fall in the range of 14 °C - 31 °C with optimal range of 22 °C – 31 °C.  In coastal Alabama mean temperatures are within the acceptable range for most of the year.  During the winter mean temperature range was tolerable for banana pseudostems at 0 °C – 14 °C.  Leaf emergence rates ranged from 5.0 – 8.0 leaves month-¹ from July through September and were similar to banana plants produced in other subtropical regions.  According to the literature, leaf area index (LAI) of ‘Grand Nain’ and ‘Dwarf Cavendish’ banana cultivars ranged from1.94 – 2.03 and 2.37 – 2.65 respectively at harvest in the subtropics.  Five months after planting, LAI of ‘Grand Nain’ and ‘Dwarf Cavendish’ grown in Fairhope was 1.0 and 1.31 respectively.  At the same point of maturity, ‘Grand Nain’ and ‘Dwarf Cavendish’ reached pseudostem circumferences that were 51% and 56% respectively of their counterparts at harvest grown in other subtropical regions.  This data suggests that vegetative growth of bananas produced in coastal Alabama is commensurate with growth of bananas produced in other subtropical regions and supports the potential of banana fruit production.