Correlation of plant growth components to bunch weight in banana infested with burrowing, nematode, Radopholus simills (Cobb) Charles J.S.K., Venkitesan T.S.*, Thomas Yageen**, Varkey P. A. Banana Research Station, Kerala Agricultural University, Kannara-680652, Kerala, India. * Nematology Laboratory, College of Horticulture, Vellanikkara-680654, Kerala, India. ** Present address: Cropping Systems Research Centre, Karamana-695 002, Trivandrum, India. Abstract Correlation between yield of banana and population of Radophilus similis along with other plant characters were studied under field condition. Nematode population in soil and root samples had significant negative correlation of -0.5210 and -0.8243 respectively. Number of fingers and number of hands showed significant positive correlation of 0.5015 and 0.4671 respectively, whereas vegetative:character such as height, girth, number of leaves and suckers exhibited non-significant correlation with yield except for age at flowering which had significant negative correlation with yield (−0.5814). Nematode population in roots was found to be the most important direct or indirect factor for reduced yields. Top Key words Radopholus similis, banana, growth. Top |