Musa 'Kayinja'
 

This is my 'Kayinja' banana, it a Pisang Awak ABB (like 'Namwah') brought to Hawai'i from Africa for a research project. It is probably the most vigorous banana I have grown and shows great promise for wider distribution, even more so than the current local type of Pisang Awak. It also has potential BBTV (Banana Bunchy Top Virus) tolerance.

It has grown very fast and produces lots of suckers, so many in fact that its actually sometimes difficult to manage.

It took 299 days from planting to flowering.

This photo was taken about 11 months after planting.

Re: Musa 'Kayinja'
 

Here is a shot of some of my collection, you can see 'Kayinja', the largest plant near the center. (click the photo, then click again to see full size)

Re: Musa 'Kayinja'
 

Very nice growth! Thanks for sharing the info! Looks like a great variety! Let us know how the fruit tastes and how the plant does.

Re: Musa 'Kayinja'
 

photo background is beautiful. where is it?

Re: Musa 'Kayinja'
 

It is in Waimanalo, on the island of Oahu in Hawaii.

Re: Musa 'Kayinja'
 

That is AWESOME! Thanks for posting! The view is incredible! How large is your property?

Re: Musa 'Kayinja'
 

I've actually had the fruit from the plants where I got mine from, and they are like normal 'Namwah'. They are soft, kinda creamy and very white. They are sweet, but not super-sweet like a 'Sucrier', very flavorful though and generally well-liked. Occasionally for some reason, the centers can become pithy and for this reason it is sometimes not preferred as a dessert banana. In Africa, it is commonly used as a beer banana in replacement of the traditional beer cultivars.

This is on the student farm I am part of. We currently have 1 acre on the university's research farm which in total is 150-200 acres I believe. We also just acquired a (small) mature coffee field which we can experiment with intercropping. I would like to plant cacao and bananas among the coffee.

Re: Musa 'Kayinja'
 

U mean like, its regulary used in beer production???
:bananas_b
:woohoonaner:

Re: Musa 'Kayinja'
 

very nice Gabe15.

Re: Musa 'Kayinja'
 

Thanks for sharing Gabe!

Do you know if it is female fertile? I will check Musalog to get its ITC number.
Thanks once again for sharing!!! :2239:

Re: Musa 'Kayinja'
 

Very cool!

Re: Musa 'Kayinja'
 

I would even go as far as trying to produce banana whiskey. ;)

Re: Musa 'Kayinja'
 

Yes, they ferment it into an alcoholic beverage.

Pisang Awaks tend to be very good at setting seed, this one shouldn't be any different. I would guess though that the viability of the seeds and quality of embryo production varies with the male parent.

I don't think its in the Musalogue, but it is ITC0087

Re: Musa 'Kayinja'
 

Gabe, do you want to write this one up as a cultivar profile for an upcoming issue? (hint, nudge, poke....)

Re: Musa 'Kayinja'
 

LOL...I've had banana rum...but it's not made with actual bananas; what a let down! :ha: Didn't realize you could make beer out of bananas. I wanna try this now! *speaks to bartender* Yes, I'll have a Musa Light please!
LOL...peer pressure!

Re: Musa 'Kayinja'
 

Banana beer African style is *ahem* an interesting beverage. Personally, for fermented banana drinks I prefer a Chicha (the Quichua equivalent of hard cider) made from mature plantains and cassava.

Re: Musa 'Kayinja'
 

Nice photos, Gabe. Good to hear that it has some reistance to BBTV, too.

Re: Musa 'Kayinja'
 

The problem that could present itself in my situation is the BB portion of its ABB genome. When used as a progenator, the problem with Naviruses presents. FHIA 1 (Goldfinger) has shown some resistance to BBTV and only has one B in its AAAB genome. With only one B the risk of Navirus presentation is minimized when using an AA male prodginator (or something other than a balbisiana dirivative), and still possibly retaining the BBTV resistance.

Thank you once again for sharing the information Gabe! :2239:

Re: Musa 'Kayinja'
 

Banana beer :bananas_b sounds very interesting. Jack wants to produce banana whiskey, it might be some difficultier to burn bananas to whiskey. Only fully or overripen dessert bananas might be suitable for burn whiskeys and alcoholic beverage. But I know the Canary Banana liquor, this is a famous sweet liqour from the Canary Islands, I love it very much. I might to procduct banana liquor from the Musa "Nanica", the "Nanica" is very similar to the Canary Banana, is also one AAA cultivar like Dwarf Cavendish.

Best wishes
Joachim

Re: Musa 'Kayinja'
 

some update photos of the more mature bunch