A promising new variety belongs to Pisang Awak group similar to Karpuravalli banana. The production and productivity of the local Karpuravalli banana can be increased by planting the new variety Udhayam released by NRC Banana. The average yield is 37 kg. with a potential to yield upto 45 kg which is 40 per cent higher than local Karpuravalli. The plants are comparatively dwarf in stature with a duration of 15-16 months. It has cylindrical bunch with 13-15 hands and 15 - 20 fruits per hand. Fruits are elongated with 14 -16 cm in length and 10-13 cm in circumference. Suitable for long distance transportation and are less prone to fruit damage during transit. The fruits have high sugar content with 30 - 32oB and suitable for processing into value added products like figs, banana juice, wine etc. It is field tolerant to Sigatoka leaf spot and nematode incidence.

• Suitable for cultivation in banana growing states viz., Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh.
• Bihar, West Bengal, North Eastern regions in place of local Karpuravalli banana.
• 40% high yielder with high TSS (32o Brix).
• Field tolerant to nematode and leaf spot diseases.
• Highly suitable for processing industry.

• 50% higher productivity.
• High profitability due to high yield and suitable for processing industry.
• Transportation losses are less by 20% and more bunches can be accommodated.

Mineral nutritional deficiencies and imbalances are emerging as major threats now-a-days in the Indian banana production scenario. Lack of awareness among the farmers about the importance of balanced fertilization has led to indiscriminate application of certain nutrients which has caused deficiency of micronutrients. In addition, non-availability of good quality organic manures is also one of the factors for poor soil health. Particularly, the micronutrients are very much neglected among the banana farming community in India and essentiality of micronutrients in banana production is gaining importance. Keeping this as a challenge, the National Research Centre for Banana, Trichy, Tamil Nadu under the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), New Delhi has focused its research programme on micronutrient requirements of banana. Based on the various research findings enunciated from different soils and locations, it has formulated a micronutrient mixture named Banana Shakti, in 2007. Now, this mixture has been widely accepted by the farmers in many banana growing regions like Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar and gained popularity among the banana farming community.

• If the soil pH is more than 8.5, foliar spray of 2% Banana Shakti with wetting agent at 4, 5 and 6 months after planting is recommended.
• If the soil pH is less than 8.5, soil application of 10g Banana Shakti per plant at 3 months after planting is recommended.

• It corrects the micronutrient deficiency and increases the availability of macro and micronutrients to banana crop, thereby increases the productivity by 15-20%.
• Increases the TSS of fruit and decreases the acidity of fruit, Improves the quality of fruit like taste, sweetness, flavour and aroma.
• Provides an additional net profit of Rs.20,000 to 25,000 per hectare with Benefit to Cost ratio of 3.6 : 1.

• Bunch covering with 100 gauge white polythene sleeves with 4-6% ventilation after the last hand opening improves the bunch quality.
• Banana fingers packed with foam in two-ply cardboard boxes weighing 13.5 kg with ethylene absorbent is suitable for export.

• Banana pseudostem trap @ 100/ha effectively controls banana weevils.
• Swabbing the cut surface of the traps with Beauveria bassiana or Heterorhabditis indica @ 20g trap-1 trapped the weevils and killed them instantly and they need not be collected.

Bananas are affected by four major viruses such as Banana Bunchy Top Virus (BBTV), Banana Streak Virus (BSV), Cucumber Mosaic Virus (CMV) and Banana Bract Mosaic Virus (BBrMV). These viruses cause serious diseases and are a major constraint to banana tissue culture industry. In quality production of tissue culture banana plants, virus indexing plays a major role to ensure the plants are free from viruses.

Molecular Plant Virology lab, NRC for Banana, Tiruchirappalli has been Accredited for testing tissue culture raised plants for major virus diseases of banana as Accredited Test Laboratory (ATL) under National Certification System for Tissue Culture Raised Plants (NCS-TCP) by Department of Biotechnology (DBT), GOI .

Detection of four banana viruses by simplex, duplex and multiplex -PCR Lane M: 1Kb ladder Plus; Lane 1: BBTV (500bp) and BSV (480bp); Lane 2: BBrMV (300bp) and CMV (657bp); Lane 3: BBTV (500bp), BSV (480bp), BBrMV (300bp) and CMV (657bp); Lane 4: Negative control.

• Well designed primers for all four viruses are available for commercial exploitation.
• Indexing can be done using PCR for TC plants for certification.
• PCR based technology developed at NRCB has been applied for virus indexing of more than 26,000 samples received from more than 20 Banana TC Industries.
• Nucleic acid probes (non-radioactive) are also available for NASH test.