Enhanced banana productivity, soil microbial community structure, and Fusarium wilt resistance by ultra-wide-narrow row planting pattern

Lina Huang^1,2,3Shimin Cheng^1,2,3Hailin Liu⁴Shaolong Sun⁵Rongxiang Wang¹Zengxian Zhao¹Junya Wei^1,6Xiaolin Fan^5*Shouxing Wei^1,6*

• ¹Chinese Academy of Tropical Agricultural Sciences Tropical Crops Genetic Resources Institute, Haikou, China
• ²Key Laboratory of Crop Gene Resources and Germplasm Enhancement in Southern China, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Haikou, China
• ³Key Laboratory of Tropical Crops Germplasm Resources Genetic Improvement and Innovation of Hainan Province/ National Tropical Fruit Tree Variety Improvement Center, Haikou, China
• ⁴Chinese Academy of Tropical Agricultural Sciences Rubber Research Institute, Danzhou, China
• ⁵South China Agricultural University College of Natural Resources and the Environment, Guangzhou, China
• ⁶National Key Laboratory for Tropical Crop Breeding, Sanya, China

The sustainability of Banana production is severely constrained by labor intensiveness, Fusarium wilt epidemics, and mechanization incompatibility under conventional planting systems. A three-year (2019-2021) investigation systematically evaluated three distinct planting configurations for simultaneously addressing these challenges while maintaining consistent plant density at 2220 plants ha-¹. The three planting configurations included T3M (3.0 m/1.5 m wide-narrow row, 2.0 m spacing), T5M (5.0 m/1.5 m ultra-wide-narrow row, 1.4 m spacing), T6M (5.0 m/1.5 m ultra-wide-narrow row, 1.2 m spacing). T5M demonstrated superior performance across agronomic and biochemical parameters. T5M outperformed T6M by 23.27-40.12% greater productivity with 8.13% higher fruit number per bunch, while maintaining T3M's commercial harvest stability and fruit quality, stable and higher commercial harvest rates. T5M enhanced fruit quality over T6M in 2021, increasing total soluble solids by 15.81%, ascorbic acid by 18.35%, and sugar-acid ratio by 16.93%. T5M prioritized reproductive growth, increasing aboveground biomass 12.99% and fruit dry matter 18.73% over T3M in 2021.Compared to T6M, T5M improved nutrient cycling, enhanced aboveground N, P and K uptake by 15.68%, 12.88% and 12.26% respectively. Soil available nitrogen increased 18.19% versus T3M, with availabe potassium rosing 11.46% over T6M. T5M selectively modified soil microbiomes while preserving pH and organic matter stability. Microbial analysis showed Actinobacteriota enrichment increased 26.03% alongside Fusarium reduction by 31.50%, with redundancy analysis identifying organic matter as the major restructuring driver. These findings position the 5-meter ultra-wide-narrow row configuration as an innovative solution simultaneously enhancing yield, mechanization efficiency and pathogen suppression for sustainable banana production systems.