Quote:
Originally Posted by permaculturekidd
So it comes down to a random mutation thats one in 10 million; anyone know where I get get a few hundred seeds?
Is there anyway to tip the scales my way; increasing the chance for mutations to occur? Maybe getting all the seeds from unusual fruit and breeding them together?
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The specific mutation required would be parthenocarpy. You could use radiation or mutagens to increase the rate of mutation, but as for specifically having them mutate into parthenocarpic bananas with some technique or chemical, that can't be done today. Studies have been done where auxins were applied to young, undeveloped, unpollinated fruits and the fruits actually grew as if they were parthenocarpic to some degree.
I have been working on a breeding project for almost 4 years now trying to move the parthenocarpic trait into plants like M. velutina. It is going well, but slow, mainly due to the lack of space for growing out plants, but I have a lot of new things in the ground and should be making more crosses soon. I've produced many hundreds of hybrid seeds but have not been successful in fully regenerating a plant from those seeds.