False Horn Plantain Research Articles

Response of False horn plantain to different plant densities and frequency of handweeding

The study, which was carried out at the Crops Research Institute, Kumasi, Ghana, from April 1992 to March 1995, aimed at determining (i) the optimum plant density of False horn plantain for maximum yield, and (ii) the optimum frequency of handweeding for economic returns. Results indicated that the optimum plant density for False horn was 1667 plants per hectare. At this density, the significantly highest bunch weight was 8.0 kg per plant. In Ghana, plantain is mostly sold as bunches and, therefore, bunch weight per plant rather than yield per hectare is of paramount importance. Handweeding, as weed control measure, proved to result in high economic returns. Keeping the field weedfree for the first 4 weeks followed by slashing every 12 weeks (4-IWP W 12-FUS) produced the highest economic returns of 71.5 per cent over the farmer's practice of weeding at only 12-week intervals from planting. Ghana Jnl agric Sci. Vol.32(2) 1999: 177-183

Fruit quality evaluation of plantains, plantain hybrids, and cooking bananas

Abstract Triploid plantains (Musa AAB) are among the most important horticultural crops of West Africa. However, all landraces are susceptible to black Sigatoka, a fungal disease caused by Mycosphaerella fijiensis, Morelet. To ameliorate the spread of this epidemic, exotic triploid cooking bananas (ABB), with resistance to black Sigatoka, were introduced into West Africa and new disease resistant polyploid Musa (AAAB) germplasm developed through conventional cross-breeding of French plantains (AAB). To ensure that released materials would compete with landraces on a fruit quality basis, an evaluation methodology was developed to compare exotic and hybrid Musa genotypes with West African triploid landraces. Tests showed that plantain hybrids and cooking bananas had heavier bunches than plantain landraces. The plantain hybrids generally produced more but smaller fruit compared with False Horn plantain (AAB). The fruit ripening time of plantain hybrids and the cooking banana cultivar Pelipita was longer than that of plantain landraces, and selected plantain hybrids had fruit with a dry matter content similar to that of the female parent. The fruit of ripe plantain landraces had a firmer texture than plantain hybrids and the landraces Agbagba and Bobby Tannap had lower levels of soluble solids at specific stages of ripening compared with the other Musa germplasm. These results showed that simple physical tests can be used to select for higher quality cooking bananas and plantain hybrids and that specific plantain hybrids, within the test group, showed a higher potential for market acceptance.

“double bunch” in a plantain germplasm in Nigeria: a new Genotype

In the course of germplasm exploratory work, a strain of a False Horn plantain cultivar was found which produced two bunches at fruiting. Cropping of the suckers of this material through three cycles showed that all the plants studied, produced two bunches of fruits. The results suggest that this plantain tentatively designated as “double bunch”, is of genetic origin arising probably from a mutation of the existing plantain cultivar. The implications for the identification of genetic diversity as well as for the evaluation and conservation of genetic resources are discussed.

The Potential of AMMI Analysis for Field Assessment of Musa Genotypes to Virus Infection

Virus-like symptoms (due to banana streak virus, cucumber mosaic virus, or both) have been observed in plants of Musa hybrids (TMPx) and local landraces included in multilocational trials in sub-Saharan Africa. Virus-like symptom incidence in these multilocational trials was analyzed using the additive main effect multiplicative interaction (AMMI) model. There were significant differences in virus-like symptom incidence among environments, which was highest in the cool, rainy season (14% to 42%) and lowest in the warm, dry season (<10%). Genotypes showed significantly different responses to virus(es), which depended on the environment. There were no plants of AA and AAA bananas showing virus-like symptoms (0% incidence), whereas ABB cooking bananas and a cooking banana hybrid (ABB × AA) seldom showed virus-like symptoms (<2% incidence). The AAB French plantains appeared to have a similar genotypic response to virus(es) (about 10% virus-like symptom incidence) and were regarded as less susceptible than the False Horn plantain `Agbagba', which showed virus-like symptoms in most of the environments (average 21% incidence). Hence, `Agbagba' should be considered a susceptible indicator host because it has a stable susceptible host response to Musa virus(es). Plantain hybrids (AAB × AA) showed virus-like symptoms; however, there were significant differences in genotypic response to the virus(es) among various hybrids (11% to 60%). Epistasis due to transgressive segregation may control the susceptibility of TMPx germplasm to Musa virus(es). The AMMI1 model revealed that an increase in clonal susceptibility resulted in a more unstable response to the virus. Similarly, phenotypic instability was associated with an increase in clonal resistance. Environments with very low (dry season) or very high (rainy season) incidence of virus-like symptoms had unstable virus expression. Scoring virus symptoms in cool environments with low rainfall and low potential evapotranspiration provided an unbiased assessment of genotypic response to Musa virus(es). The AMMI2 model showed that seasonal rather than locational diversity accounted for most of the interaction patterns. This finding may indicate a low level of strain differentiation in the region.

Field Performance of Somaclonal Variants of Plantain (Muss spp., AAB Group)

Four types of morphologically distinct somaclonal variants were identified in a population of False Horn plantain (Musa spp., AAB group) plants produced by in vitro shoot-tip culture. Field performance of these variants was compared with true-to-type plantain to evaluate their horticultural traits. Significant variation was observed for plant and fruit maturity, leaf size, yield and its components, but not for leaf number, plant height, or suckering. Three of the four somaclonal variants were horticulturally inferior to the original clone from which they were derived. Yields of these variants were very poor due to inflorescence degeneration or abnormal foliage. Only the `French reversion' variant, which resembled an existing cultivar, outyielded the true-to-type clone. However, its fruit weight and size were lower. Somaclonal variation through micropropagation is of limited use in plantain improvement as it mostly mimics naturally occurring variation along with the observed poor horticultural performance of somaclonal variants.