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Abstract

Adequate supply of N nutrition is essential in banana production and is an indirect indicator of chlorophyll content, as considerable amount of it is incorporated in green pigment. Traditional methods of N determination are expensive and lengthy or require high technology instruments, affecting its timely determination. This study assessed N nutrition of banana leaf tissue through traditional Kjeldahl’s method and regressed with chlorophyll content, each by spectrophotometry and SPAD-502. Fully grown suckers identical in appearance were randomly selected from thirty banana growing sites of district Naushehroferoze. Kjeldahl’s N content was between 1.80 and 4.60 % with 60% samples falling under low, 3% under high and remaining were sufficient in N nutrition. There was strong, linear and significant relationship of chlorophyll determined by SPAD with chlorophyll “a” (r = 0.81) and total (r = 0.86) by spectrophotometry. In case of Kjeldahl’s N, similar relationships were developed with chlorophyll content determined by SPAD meter (r = 0.85), chlorophyll “a” (r = 0.79) and total (r= 0.80) by spectrophotometry. Coefficient of determination explained 72% contribution of chlorophyll content by SPAD, and 63% and 64% (“a” and “total”, respectively) by spectrophotometry to the total N content in leaf tissue. While, chlorophyll determination by SPAD meter explained 67%, 19% and 74% to spectrophotometric chlorophyll “a”, “b” and “total”, respectively. This study recommends that both the techniques of chlorophyll determination are closely associated with each other; however, spectrophotometric chlorophyll determinations have an edge over SPAD readings. Under spectrophotometric determination, chlorophyll “a” is the major portion of total chlorophyll associated with both N and SPAD values.

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