01617naa a2200181 a 450000100080000000500110000800800410001902000220006010000180008224500350010026000090013549000250014452010270016965000110119670000200120770000230122777301850125016379312022-08-11       2007    bl uuuu     u00u1 u    #d  a978-3-9523243-1-81 aBORGES, A. L.  aBanana.h[electronic resource]  c2007  a(IPI. Bulletin, 18).  aThe banana belongs to the family Musa and is grown in most tropical countries. It is an important food consumed world-wide and it can be eaten unripe or ripe, raw or processed (cooked, fried, roasted or processed). The fruit contains vitamins (A, B and C), minerals (calcium, potassium and iron) and has few calories (90 to 120 Kcal/100 g). The fruit is approximately 70% water; the solid material is principally carbohydrates (23 to 32 g/100 g) with little protein (1.0 to 1.3 g/100 g) and fat (0.37 to 0.48/100 g). In 2004, world banana production was approximately 73 million mt. The largest producer was India (23%), followed by Brazil (9%), then China and Ecuador (8% respectively). World production of plantains and bananas was 33 million mt. While the African continent, had the lowest production of plantains per unit area (5.72 mt/ha), it was nevertheless responsible for 70% of this total production. Major producing countries are Uganda (30% of the world production), Columbia (20%) and Rwanda (8%) (FAO, 2006).  aBanana1 aSOUZA, L. da S.1 aOLIVEIRA, A. M. G.  tIn: CRISÓSTOMO, L. A.; NAUMOV, A.; JOHNSTON, A. E. (Ed.). Fertilizing for high yield and quality tropical fruits of Brazil. Horgen: International Potash Institute, 2007. p. 31-49.