Does bunch trimming affect dry matter content in banana?

To check if bunch trimming improves quality traits of banana, its effect on the dry matter content of the pulp and peel of two banana cultivars (Grande Naine, and a hybrid named Flhorban 924) were investigated during fruit growth. For both cultivars, bunches with six hands (controls) were compared with trimmed bunches with only two hands at two fruit development stages, one early fruit pruning treatment at 160 degree days (dd) and one late fruit pruning treatment at 540 dd. Early bunch trimming increased fruit weight by more than 25%. An allometric relationship of type Y=aX(b) was found between fruit and pulp dry weight, in which the coefficients mainly depended on the cultivar concerned. In the allometric relationship between the weight of water in the fruit and the pulp, coefficient b was the same in the two cultivars. During fruit growth, the dry matter content of the pulp and peel increased rapidly between 160 and 600 dd, then continued to increase, but more slowly, to reach maximum at between 600 and 800 dd depending on the cultivar, and finally declined slowly until the end of growth. The early bunch trimming treatment led to an increase of 1 g 100 g(-1) in the dry matter content of the peel. However, the dry matter content of the pulp was not affected by bunch trimming irrespective of when the treatment was carried out. In conclusion, this common cultivation practice did improve fruit weight but had no significant impact on the dry matter content of the banana pulp at harvest. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.