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Old 02-25-2016, 07:33 PM   #10 (permalink)
galaad
 
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Default Re: What ARE "banana seeds"?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Gabe15 View Post
Cavendish cultivars are generally both male and female sterile, there are many reasons for sterility, I don't know the exact reasons off the top of my head for Cavendish clones, but they are generally severe and unavoidable. Across different clones the reasons vary, many involve errors in gamete production, some are more physiological such as pollen tube growth inhibition in the style.

A small number of Cavendish clones have been known to set seed in small amounts, and produce fertile pollen, but they are far from efficient or bountiful. Even with fertile edible bananas, the exact cross has a great deal of importance sometimes. A Cavendish x M. velutina cross is not totally theoretically impossible, but I would not expect anything to come from it. Cavendish is one of the worst parents to use in banana breeding, which is unfortunate because it is of course in much need of improvement. Even Gros Michel is relatively fertile compared to Cavendish clones, and some of the seed set rates in Gros Michel have come out to about 5 seeds per 10,000 pollinated bunches.
Ok, thank you... I hoped one cold somehow obtain an hybrid that was small and quick like a velutina, hardy like a sikkimensis, and partenocarpic like a Cavendish (a type which would make seedless seeds if one would remove the male part of the flower), but apperently I dream too much...
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