• The Plant Pathology Journal
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.9-20
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• 2017

Incidence of leaf blast on nursery plants and pitting disease on maturing banana bunches has been recorded in banana plantations during rainy season in Eastern India during 2014 to 2015. Taxonomical identification as well as DNA sequence analysis of the internal transcribed spacer region of fungus isolated from affected tissue culture derived plantlets and fruits confirmed the pathogen to be Pyricularia angulata Hashioka "in both the cases". Koch's postulates were proved on young plantlets as well as on maturing fruits of cv. Grand Naine under simulated conditions. Evolutionary history was inferred and presented for our P. angulata strain PG9001 with GenBank accession no. KU984740. The analysis indicated that the P. angulata is phylogenitically distinct from other related species related to both Pyricularia and Magnaporthe. Detailed symptoms of blast lesions on young leaves, transition leaves, mid rib, petioles, peduncle, maturing bunches, bunch stalks and cushions were documented. Notably, the distinct small pitting spots on maturing bunches reduced the visual appeal of mature fruits. Appearance of pitting symptoms on fruits in relation with age of fruits and their distribution pattern on bunch and fingers was also documented in detail. Further, the roles of transitory leaves, weed hosts, seasonality on disease occurrence have also been documented.

• Journal of the Korean Regional Science Association
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.39-73
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• 1999

An examination is made of container movements, air cargo/passengers and telecommunications traffic in Northeast Asia during 1995. A drawback to studying flows between major cities is that information on telecommunications traffic is only available between countries. Also container traffic data are restricted to individual ports. Consequently, most attention is paid to movements of passenger aircraft between major cities derived from analysing timetables, particularly as they can be related to regional development concepts applied in Europe such as the 'blue banana' and 'bunches of grapes' concepts. A 'peas in a pod' may be a more appropriate movements are examined again in 1998 to gauge the impact of the Asian crisis.

• Journal of Biosystems Engineering
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• v.40 no.4
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• pp.409-416
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• 2015

Purpose: This study evaluates a new banana bulk packaging method under the real transport conditions of Sri Lanka. Methods: A field evaluation of optimized 8-mm thick Styrofoam sheets used as the cushioning material was applied. A trial transport was conducted from Thambuttegama to Colombo using a medium-sized open truck, with banana leaves as the control material. Data were recorded at the farmer, transporter, retailer, and consumer stages of the supply chain. Mechanical damage, physiological loss in weight, fruit firmness, total soluble solids, ripeness index, visual quality ratings, and the physical damage index of the bananas were measured at each stage. A cost-benefit analysis was also conducted for both packaging methods. Results: The 8-mm styrofoam sheets significantly reduced (p < 0.05) the mechanical damage from 26.3% to 12.9% compared to the conventional method for long-distance transport, and the physiological loss in weight showed a decrease of 2.88%. The loss of firmness of the fruits followed a simmilar pattern for both methods until reaching the retailer, but at the consumer was significantly higher (p < 0.05) for the control. However, the physical damage index at the retail stage for the control showed symptoms of physical injury, whereas the bananas transported using the cushioning materials exhibited only minor symptoms. Further, the visual quality of the fruits after transport from the farmer to the consumer was preserved, which is one of the main factors affecting consumer preference and retail price. The proposed method increases the profit margin by 51.2% for Embul bananas owing to the reduced postharvest losses. Conclusion: The 8-mm thick Styrofoam sheets reduced the physical damage to the bananas, with the quality parameters maintained at the prefered level. Moreover, profits may be increased.