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“Pacovan Ken” is the name of a new
banana variety launched by Embrapa
Mandioca e Fruticultura in homage to
the eminent international scientist
Kenneth Shepherd, one of the breeders
of the variety.
Kenneth Shepherd was born in
England in 1927. After gaining a brilliant
degree in agriculture and botany at
Durham University, England, in 1947,
Ken started his career by working on the
genus Solanum for two years in
Cambridge. After this initial phase, he
dedicated the rest of his career to the
banana, which became his favourite
‘muse’. He worked from 1950 to 1960 in
the banana breeding programme at the
Imperial College of Tropical Agriculture
in Trinidad, and then from 1960 to 1980
in the Jamaican Banana Board’s breeding
programme, where he created several
genotypes including the hybrid M53.
The latter was then added to the
Embrapa genebank and was the origin
of the variety ‘Pacovan Ken’. The
programme also developed other
hybrids such as “Calypso’, ‘Bucanier”
and “Ambrosia”, all of which were bred
by this great scientist.
From December 1981 onwards, Ken
continued his career in Brazil as a
consultant with Embrapa, where he set
up a breeding programme.
Ken then played a true role of leader at
the head of a team of young researchers
and technicians by passing on, with his
natural modesty, all the knowledge that
he possessed. His most precious
moments were his field trips to accompany
the installation of a trial, when he
helped with planting, cleaning and transplanting,
or to attentively monitor the
growth of the new genotypes. He was
then as happy as when he smoke a good
Bahia cigar, one of his weaknesses.
Throughout his time spent at
Embrapa, Ken played a vital role in the
breeding programme, in particular by
introducing genetic material from other
countries, a complex, difficult task that
was only possible because of his contacts
and his credibility with the international
bodies working on Musa.
Brazil thus possesses today the second
active genebank in the world including
the most important parents—an
unequalled treasure.
Kenneth Shepherd published more than
50 books that are references for the world
banana community. Unfortunately, much
other work has remained unpublished.
The first concrete result of his work in
Brazil was the launching of the ‘Pioneira’
cultivar in 1992.
Difficulties arose for the renewal of
his contract when he was working as
consultant for Embrapa. In the early
1990s, he even remained for two years
without being paid his fees. On his
departure from Brazil in 1994, he left
behind him a well trained team capable
of continuing the work on promising
genotypes. One of these was “Pacovan
Ken”, launched in November 2001 as a
national crop plant. The new variety is
not only more productive that the
‘Pacovan’ variety traditionally grown in
the Nordeste in Brazil, but it is also
resistant to yellow and black Sigatokas
and to Panama disease, the three curses
of banana around the world.
We are sure that this sincere homage to
Kenneth Shepherd, using the short form
of his name (Ken) in the name of the new
variety, is not much in comparison with
the immense heritage that he has left
to the Brazilian and world banana communities.
When we chose to name this hybrid in
his honour, we tried to contact him in
Portugal, where he was spending his
retirement, to invite him to the launching
of the new variety on 30 November 2001.
Unfortunately, we then received the sad
news that he had died on 16 October 2001
at the age of 74.

We shall always remember Kenneth
Shepherd as a model of competence,
modesty, abnegation, impartiality and
altruism.

Embrapa Mandioca e Fruticultura
November 2001

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Kenneth Shepherd | Promusa - Mobilizing banana science for sustainable livelihoods

Tribute to Kenneth Shepherd

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robguz24

Do you know anything about the Ambrosia cultivar? I have one called that, bought from a local seller. Looks like a Mysore, complete with BSV showing up in the leaves. Haven't had the fruit yet, but he insisted it's different than other Mysore he grows.

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It's a GM hybrid, the male progenitor is probably a M-53, Lidi, or Calcutta.

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robguz24

Thanks, clearly what I have is not Ambrosia.

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Kenneth Shepherd - A Survey Of Major Banana Cultivars - 1970

A number of mutants have been recorded but
the only important one is dwarfing, giving the
'Highgate' clone of Jamaica and the 'Cocos' of
Central America, which may be identical. Height
is reduced to about two-thirds, leaves are shorter
—but the fruits are shorter too, although more
numerous. 'Cocos' had a brief period of promi
nence in Central America about ten years ago.
'Highgate' is a valuable breeding stock.


In the late 1950's, ': Dwarf Cavendish' is said
by Simmonds to have accounted for 26 per cent
of total exports, second in importance after
'Gros Michel' but declining in Australia at least,
in favour of 'Giant Cavendish'. Its merit is an
apparent tolerance of cool growing conditions,
its drawback shorter fruits which project from
the bunch to invite damage in transit, a lesser
problem nowadays when fruit tends to be carried
in boxes as hands, clusters or even single fruits.
'Giant Cavendish' has these faults to a lesser
degree.

It may still be some years, perhaps a decade
even, before a tetraploid cultivar will enter the
trade. We now have rather good cultivars, with
resistance to Panama disease and to Sigatoka
Leaf Spot, but problems remain. The tetraploids
take longer to mature a bunch than the Caven
dish sub-group and the ripe fruits may not be
as acceptable on a competitive consumer market,
because they are generally softer in texture and
less sweet.

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