Study confirms irrigation efficiency in banana cultivation.

Extreme weather events, such as the cyclone that swept through southern Brazil between November 7th and 8th, causing tornadoes in Paraná and Santa Catarina, prompted the Epagri research team to seek new ways to produce food and mitigate crop losses. In addition to strong winds, another problem that leads to losses in the field is prolonged drought, such as the one that occurred in 2019, affecting banana production on the northern coast of Santa Catarina. The good news is that preliminary results from research conducted at the Epagri Experimental Station in Itajaí (EEI) show that it is possible to produce in quantity and quality through irrigation systems adapted to local characteristics.

The research project “Evaluation of irrigation systems for banana cultivation”, conducted by agricultural engineer Ricardo Negreiros, in partnership with Fapesc, began in 2021, and aims to increase the resilience of plants to climate change in subtropical conditions. Since then, four production cycles have been carried out using two types of irrigation (micro-sprinkling and drip irrigation). 

By the end of the third cycle, a reduction in the production time of the Prata banana was observed, by 33 days, and by 58 days in the case of the Cavendish (caturra) variety. In the latter, there was also an increase of 1,3 bunches per cluster.

“The increase in productivity is also due to the fertigation system, that is, nitrogen and potassium are added to the water to nourish the plant. Phosphorus was left out because it does not dissolve in water, and the application is done manually only once a year,” explains Ricardo. The automated fertigation system also saves on labor, since manual fertilization was done every three months around each plant. And if it doesn't rain, the nutrient is lost, as it is volatile.

The research is being conducted in an area of ​​1215m² at the Itajaí Experimental Station, where 200 plants of each type of banana were planted, plus plants that did not receive irrigation, for comparative purposes. In the drip irrigation system, a tape is installed for each row of banana plants (double rows), which expands and drips when full. In the case of sprinkler irrigation, sprinklers are installed on 50cm rods, irrigating the plant below the leaves to prevent the emergence of diseases, at a flow rate of 70 liters/hour. In total, 1580 banana plant families (mother, daughter, and granddaughter) were evaluated. The fourth cycle ends in April 2026.

Banana trees do not have access to the water table.

The irrigation system for fruit cultivation on the coast had already yielded good results in the south of the state, in passion fruit crops, but this is the first time the system has been tested on the North Coast, which has its own characteristics, for banana production. “The soil in the south of the state is more sandy, and here the soil is mixed – sandy and clayey, which also affects the irrigation system chosen. In sandy soils, drip irrigation should be avoided because it forms moisture pools in the soil,” he explains. The irrigation system is not recommended for planting on very steep terrain, such as hillsides.

The banana plant has particular characteristics that exacerbate the damage caused by lack of rain. Because of its shallow root system (70% is only 40 cm deep), the plant has difficulty accessing moisture from deeper areas where the water table is located. The large leaf area also results in greater water evaporation and a need to replenish the lost liquid. Each banana family needs 20 liters of water per day, so a drought period exceeding 15 days already affects the formation of bunches and fruits, reducing productivity.

And although the years 2022 to 2024 did not present the same drought period as 2018-2019, the implementation of the irrigation system in banana cultivation can ensure that, in hotter and drier years, the losses will be much smaller. "It's a kind of crop insurance and brings other advantages beyond mitigating the effects of drought, such as increasing the efficiency in nutrient absorption, which results in more vigorous plants in the second generation," concludes the researcher. 

The investment in the irrigation system has an estimated cost of R$5,00 per plant, per year, for a depreciation of the equipment over 10 years.