Banana Production in Venezuela: Novel Solutions to Productivity and Plant Health (The Latin American Studies Book Series)

Prologue
Acknowledgments
About This Book
Specific Research Goals
Contents
About the Author
Chapter 1: Research Background
	1.1 Introduction
	1.2 Importance of Bananas in the World’s Food Chain
	1.3 Overview of Banana Production in Venezuela
	1.4 Main Phytosanitary Problems in Venezuela
	1.5 Problems of Banana Soils in Venezuela
	1.6 Innovative Solutions Using Machine Learning
	References
Chapter 2: Methodological Framework
	2.1 Introduction
	2.2 Study of Fusarium Wilt of Bananas in Venezuela
		2.2.1 Geographical Distribution of Foc
		2.2.2 A Systematic Review and Bibliometric Analysis
		2.2.3 Potential Risk Analysis and Climatic Suitability for Foc TR4
		2.2.4 Activities Aimed at Preventing the Entry and Spread of Foc TR4
	2.3 Study of Banana Wilt Incidence in Venezuela
		2.3.1 Study Area
		2.3.2 Soil Sampling
		2.3.3 Banana Wilt Incidence
		2.3.4 Data Analysis
			2.3.4.1 Exploratory Analysis
			2.3.4.2 Formal Data Analysis
		2.3.5 Identification of Important Soil Variables
		2.3.6 Classifier Performance and Accuracy Assessment
	2.4 Study of Main Physical, Chemical, and Biological Soil Properties with the Banana Productivity
		2.4.1 Study Areas
		2.4.2 Production System Description
			2.4.2.1 Field A1
			2.4.2.2 Field A2
			2.4.2.3 Field A3
			2.4.2.4 Field A4
			2.4.2.5 Field T1
			2.4.2.6 Field T2
		2.4.3 Soil Sampling
		2.4.4 Biometric Productivity Data
		2.4.5 Statistical Analyses
			2.4.5.1 Productivity Index
			2.4.5.2 Relative Importance of Predictor Variables
			2.4.5.3 Multiple Linear Regression (MLR) Approach
			2.4.5.4 Checking the MLR Solution by Bootstrapping
			2.4.5.5 Performance Analysis of the Soil Variables Selected
	2.5 Study of Main Categorical Soil Properties with the Banana Productivity
		2.5.1 Study Areas
		2.5.2 Soil Sampling
		2.5.3 Productivity Index (PI)
		2.5.4 Morphological Characterization of Soil Properties
		2.5.5 Statistical Modelling of Field Data
			2.5.5.1 Categorical Principal Component Analysis (CATPCA)
			2.5.5.2 Regression with Optimal Scaling
			2.5.5.3 Accuracy of Categorical Regression (CATREG)
			2.5.5.4 Regularization of CATREG
	References
Chapter 3: Fusarium Wilt of Bananas: A Threat to the Banana Production Systems in Venezuela
	3.1 Introduction
	3.2 Geographical Distribution: The Risk Posed by Foc Tropical Race 4 (TR4)
	3.3 A Bibliometric Analysis of the Scientific Production of Foc TR4 in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC)
	3.4 Factors That Affect the Development of Fusarium Wilt Epidemics in Banana Crops
		3.4.1 Environmental Conditions: Current and Future Climate Change Scenarios
		3.4.2 Land and Soil Physical Properties
		3.4.3 Soil Chemical Properties
		3.4.4 Crop Management
		3.4.5 Soil Biota
		3.4.6 Hosts and Dispersion
	3.5 Risk Analysis of Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. cubense Occurrence in Banana Plantations in Venezuela
		3.5.1 High-Risk Areas
		3.5.2 Moderate to High-Risk Areas
		3.5.3 Moderate to Low-Risk Areas
	3.6 Climatic Suitability for Foc TR4 Occurrence in Venezuela
	3.7 Integrated Approach to the Prevention of Foc TR4 Occurrence in Venezuela
	3.8 Conclusions
	References
Chapter 4: Evaluation of the Incidence of Banana Wilt and its Relationship with Soil Properties
	4.1 Introduction
	4.2 Results
		4.2.1 Incidence of BW in Experimental Lots
		4.2.2 Description of Soil Properties in Experimental Lots
		4.2.3 Exploratory Analysis
		4.2.4 Formal Analysis with Wilcoxon Rank Test
		4.2.5 Identification of Important Soil Variables
		4.2.6 Classifier Performance and Accuracy Assessment
	4.3 Discussion
		4.3.1 Global Distribution of BW Incidence
		4.3.2 Causal Soil Properties
			4.3.2.1 Soil Chemical Properties
			4.3.2.2 Soil Physical Properties
		4.3.3 Current Research with Machine Learning Algorithms
	4.4 Conclusion
	References
Chapter 5: Identification of the Main Soil Variables Correlated with Banana Productivity
	5.1 Introduction
	5.2 Results
		5.2.1 Productivity Index
		5.2.2 Relative Importance of Predictor Variables
		5.2.3 Multiple Linear Regression
		5.2.4 Performance Analysis of the Selected Soil Variables
		5.2.5 The MLR Solution by Bootstrapping
	5.3 Discussion
		5.3.1 The Role of Soil Quality in Productivity
		5.3.2 Soil Chemical Management
		5.3.3 Soil Physical Management
		5.3.4 Soil Biological Management
		5.3.5 Integrated Soil Management
	5.4 Conclusions
	Appendix
	References
Chapter 6: Potential Use of Soil Morphological Properties to Differentiate Levels of Banana Productivity
	6.1 Introduction
	6.2 Results
		6.2.1 Morphological Soil Properties
		6.2.2 Categorical Principal Component Analysis (CATPCA)
		6.2.3 Model Selection
		6.2.4 Optimal Scaling of the Field Soil Morphological Variables
		6.2.5 Prediction Accuracy
	6.3 Discussion
	6.4 Conclusions
	References
Chapter 7: Discussion and Conclusions
	7.1 Introduction
		7.1.1 Dynamization of the Knowledge Transfer and Exchange
	7.2 General Discussion
	7.3 Key Conclusions
	References
Index