Post-harvest manipulation of parent pseudostem and sucker management on foliar and soil nutrient status of banana

The experiment was conducted to study the effect of cutting height of parent pseudostem and its relationship with the number of sucker(s)/followers(s) connected/non-severed and severed with the mother plant on foliar and soil nutrient status of first ratoon crop in banana (Musa AAA) cv. Giant Governor. Concentration of N, P and K of leaf was found considerably higher by retaining major parts of the parent pseudostem above corm level. Severing of sucker(s)/follower(s) significantly decreased the leaf N status at both shooting and harvesting stages. Nitrogen content was proportionately higher with the increasing extent of retaining the other plant. Higher concentration of leaf P and K was observed with retention of single connected/non-severed sucker with untopped or half cut mother plant over the parent plant cut at corm level. Soil nutrient status particularly total N and available P in the upper soil layer (0–25 cm depth) increased considerably with retention of untopped mother plant.