“EL DORADO” (WILLIAMS SELECTION) – code 12/16

Main ratoon characteristics of El Dorado in relation to standard Grand Nain and Williams in South Africa. (see notes)

Morphological Characteristics "El Dorado "
(mean of 2 ratoons) 		Grand Nain
(mean of 2 ratoons) 		Williams
(mean of 2 ratoons)
Plant height (m) 3.55 3.30 3.40
Bunch Mass (kg) 50.0 43.0 40.5
Hands / bunch 14.5 12.5 12.8
Average cycle time (mths) 14.0 12.6 13.4
Plant density = 1666 plants/ha
Main characteristics of “El Dorado”
  1. Tall selection (5% taller than standard Williams)
  2. High yielding bunches (20% larger than standard Williams)
  3. Long cycling selection (2 weeks longer than standard Williams and 6 weeks longer than standard Grand Nain). This is due to the large canopy and extra competition between El Dorado banana plants.
  4. Good selection for high yields/ha where winds not too strong, and for high % of extra large fruit.
  5. Bunch management will be more difficult due to the increased height.
  6. Williams selections are especially recommended where conditions of climate or soil may be sub-optimal (hardy cultivar).
  7. This selection has not been tested in the tropics yet, but is likely to be very tall in the tropics. El Dorado may be more suited to local RSA conditions where extra vigour is needed due to one or more constraints.
NOTES:
• Standard Grand Nain and Williams data were obtained from a long term cultivar trial using unimproved sucker planting material of these cultivars at a Government research Station (Kiepersol) under optimal growth and management conditions. These data are thus not strictly comparable (only indicative).
     
• The main characteristics described are extrapolations from several trial blocks in RSA. In tropical localities results may be somewhat different. Note that comparative results can differ considerably from country and from site to site.