An investigation was carried out to study growth behaviour and maturity index of Basrai banana under Eastern U.P. conditions. The period from appearance of spike till emergence of first hand varied between 5 to 6 days. Further, it took 4 to 5 days for opening of all hands. Total number of hands in each bunch were 8 to 9. The age of the crop ranged from 456 to 480 days. Yield and total number of fingers per bunch ranged from 15.00 to 25.5 kg and 120 to 205 in number, respectively. Length and girth of the fingers ranged from 11 cms. to 23.50 cm. The crop should be harvested after 80 to 95 days from emergence of spike, when the ridges of the fruits had disappeared and fingers were almost rounded in thickness.
Starch and dry matter contents nearly stablised as the fruits approached maturity and at the last three picking dates ranged from 16.00 to 16.80 percent and 27.8 to 28.4 per cent, respectively. Dry matter starch ratios also indicated similar trend. The artificially ripened fruits of first three samples were comparatively less sweet and did not ripened uniformly. But the fruits of last three samples had maximum T.S.S. (18.5 to 19.5 per cent) and sugars (15.8–16.2 per cent). They were also excellent in rating quality. Acidity did not indicate any relationship with maturity or quality of ripe fruits.
