Franck Zokou Oro^1,, Hermann-Desiré Lallié², Gaston Koffi Kouamé¹, Dominique Sanouidi¹, Hortense Atta Diallo³

The overall objective of this study was to compare the effect of the biostimulant Banzaï and fertilizer on black cherries disease. More specifically, the aim was to evaluate the effect of the number of applications of the biostimulant Banzaï and to evaluate the cumulative effect of the previous fertilizer and Banzaï. The experiment was conducted in N'Gouamoinkro in the department of Toumodi. The design consists of a Fischer block with six treatments repeated three times and each treatment contained 20 test cocoa trees. This design was replicated on two sites, one with previous fertilizer (DAE) and the other without previous fertilizer (DSE). Banzaï was applied for three or four consecutive months depending on the treatment at each site. The SUPERCAO fertilizer was applied twice during the experiment. The data collected included the total number of cherries produced and the number of black cherries. The results obtained revealed that at both sites (DAE and DSE), the plots treated with Banzaï had better control the black cherries disease than the control plots. At DAE site, the control of black cherries disease was independent of the number of Banzaï biostimulant and fertilizer applications. At the DSE site, the three applications of Banzaï combined with the SUPERCAO fertilizer had a better control effect than the three applications of Banzaï without fertilizer. The cumulative effect of the previous fertilizer, and the Banzaï, did not have a positive impact on the control of black cherries disease.

cocoa tree, black cherries disease, Banzaï, biostimulant, Côte d'Ivoire