DoctorSteve

I know some of you have tried breeding bananas and I thought ask a question. Do any of you know if there a seeded banana varieties that cannot be used for breeding with edible types (non-seeded)?

I was also thinking we could start a thread for all those who have tried breeding bananas, so we could see what usually does, and does not work.

Gabe15

When breeding edible bananas, it is much more important to know the breeding behavior of the edible type as it will have sterility factors of some kind. Wild bananas are all very fertile, the sterility is only in the edible cultivars.

That being said, if you are attempting to cross into common edible bananas which are of the section Musa (base chromosome count n=11), then the best options are any wild species from sections Musa or Rhodochlamys which are all 2n=22. Some species such as M. basjoo and M. itinerans may be harder to cross, but it's possible. Although there have indeed been an extremely small number of successful crosses, generally Callimusa and Australimusa species cannot be used, but also there are very few easily available anyways. No cross should go untested, but if you had to choose it's best to stay within the same chromosome count groups.

If you were breeding with Fe'i bananas, which are of the section Australimusa (2n=20), then possibly almost any Callimusa or Australimusa could be considered, but again almost all of these plants are very rare to the hobbyist.

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Growing bananas in Colorado, Washington, Hawaii since 2004. Commercial banana farmer, 200+ varieties.

DoctorSteve

Thanks that is what I was wondering about wild types. I didn't know if they could all be crossed with edible bananas. The reason I thought of asking in the first place is because I read about some basjoo crossing with edible types but had very little success.

Now I just need to find out which edible types of bananas are fertile in which ways. I have found a little but not much.

Thanks.

Gabe15

Seed set is dependent on the female plant, the male plant, the interaction between the two, the environmental conditions at time of pollinating and during fruit development, the position of the fruits on the bunch which has been pollinated and likely some other factors. It can be very difficult to find patterns, and often the results are very mixed.

I think a hobbyist would have the best luck of getting seed set by using wild pollen from a Musa or Rhodochlamys section plant on an ABB cultivar, or using the pollen from an edible diploid or tetraploid on a wild species. Although, just because seed set was achieved, producing plants from those seeds is a whole different challenge.

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Growing bananas in Colorado, Washington, Hawaii since 2004. Commercial banana farmer, 200+ varieties.

DoctorSteve

I actually have an ABB type that I was thinking of using in my breeding experiments. Why do you think ABB would be better than AAB or AAA?

I will check to see what other bananas I am interested in that would be ABB here Welcome to MGIS

I did see that in breeding seeds may be obtained but obtaining viable seedlings from them is much harder here http://www.ias.ac.in/jarch/jgenet/43/337.pdf So I understand what you mean.

Still it may be fun, then again it may get tedious and turn out to be a fruitless endeavor for me but I will still give it a try. I may like it and never stop who knows.

Gabe15

The level of female fertility totally depends on the specific cultivar, and can even change with mutations and different forms of the same basic cultivar. However, for whatever reason many common ABB's just tend to be prone to easily setting seed if pollinated. There are lots of other non ABB that do as well, but its a good starting point.

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Growing bananas in Colorado, Washington, Hawaii since 2004. Commercial banana farmer, 200+ varieties.

DoctorSteve

I thought I would ask another question for all those interested (myself obviously).

Does anyone know if the edible diploids such as Pisang Mas and Rose for example are fertile in any way?I looked through my files and online but wasn't able to find that information. I did find stuff on fertility in triploids though.

Gabe15

'Rose' is both male and female fertile to some extent, I would imagine 'Pisang Mas' is at least somewhat fertile as well but I don't know off the top of my head. 'Rose' has been used rather extensively in breeding and is a good male parent. However, there is always uncertainty in the combination of the other parent plant, a generally fertile plant may be incompatible for any number of reasons with another variety.

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Growing bananas in Colorado, Washington, Hawaii since 2004. Commercial banana farmer, 200+ varieties.

DoctorSteve

Very true. I am actually trying to paste a table on here for everyone to look at. It shows basic information on hybrids and there ability to set seed and grow.

Maybe I should try a Rose, Pisang mas is very tasty.

bengtang

I have seeds from wild banana (probabaly M. acuminata) from the jungles of Singapore, some pics:
Facebook

Anyone want some seeds? The climate here is hot and humid (33C, 90% humidity) so not sure if they will grow in temperate regions. The soil is laterite clay with a surface layer of humus, but bananas will grow in just about any soil as long as it isn't too dry. They like a lot of water. The banana plants grow to about 3-4 m tall.

shannondicorse

Gabe,

This quote was from a banana breeeding exchange between you and Dr. Steve a while back.

I'm running a Google search: "breeding bananas site:Bananas.org - International Banana Society

I think I might have briefly inquired of Dr. Steve & he told me that he's not breeding bananas again.

I gather that you've been on ths list for a while; are technically adept; and might be attached to a university in Hawaii.

Are you involved in breeding (conventionally or otherwise) bananas? What is your banana collection like? From the archives at bananas.org I see you have extensive material.


thanks,

shannon


shannon.di.corse@gmail.com