Pacific Banana Catalogs
 

As some of your may know, I am a banana researcher in Hawaii, and I would like to share some of my work documenting Pacific banana varieties from 3 expeditions in 2019. Enjoy!

Cook Islands:
https://repo.mel.cgiar.org/handle/20.500.11766/12873

Samoa:
https://repo.mel.cgiar.org/handle/20.500.11766/12874

West New Britain, PNG:
https://repo.mel.cgiar.org/handle/20.500.11766/12875

Re: Pacific Banana Catalogs
 

Very cool! Thanks Gabe!

Re: Pacific Banana Catalogs
 

Nice, will sit down and read the first one now.

Re: Pacific Banana Catalogs
 

Wow, that's a lot of bananas! But then maybe that's just my relatively ignorant, northern perspective?

Thanks for sharing!

Re: Pacific Banana Catalogs
 

Amazing research! Very good read. Tons of info and pictures, Thanks!

Re: Pacific Banana Catalogs
 

Gabe, for all your banana travels / explorations what was one of the most surprising things you learned or found, and what was something you discovered that completely defied explanation? (like, if you found a banana growing in an extremely remote location and had no clue as to how it ever got there, and its nearest genetic relative banana was found thousands of miles away - something like that) :waving:

Re: Pacific Banana Catalogs
 

When I was younger I think I must have thought that I could see every variety of banana, but after having seeing so many, I realize that it is an impossible goal, and that there is no way to know how many there are or to see them all, so there will always be new things to see.

I've come across a number of bananas which are confusing or mysterious in their genetic background and relationships to other known things, what has surprised me is the amount of genetic diversity which is still unknown or unclear. It's one thing to find new cultivars within a known genetic group, but I suppose I've been surprised at how many new genetic groups we have also found, some of which we don't know where they came from or what they are related to.

Here is another article detailing one such cultivar, 'Menengan' in Madang, PNG.

https://www.promusa.org/blogpost656-...s-expectations

Re: Pacific Banana Catalogs
 

Thanks for sharing the results of your expeditions. I found the different colors of the bananas (inside and out) interesting. Pretty cool!!

Gabe, not too long ago you mentioned a banana plant you may bring to the market that is a dwarf/mini-dwarf that fruits nice size bananas. Any news or developments, photos, etc. on that?

Thanks again!

Re: Pacific Banana Catalogs
 

How does an 11 chromosome plant cross with a 10 chromosome one? Didn't think that possible. Seems like a banana 'mule' (horse x burro)

Re: Pacific Banana Catalogs
 

Sounds like it surprised everyone. Not that I know squat about banana genetics, or plant genetics in general, but I found the following quote intriguing:

"This hybrid shouldn’t exist. Yet it does"

Re: Pacific Banana Catalogs
 

What blows my mind is how many different seedless edible varieties/hybrids exist, and how Gabe keeps finding new ones.

How are there so many when successfully breeding a new variety is extremely difficult?

Phil Rowe, who led the FHIA breeding program for many years before his death in 2003, invented the now-standard procedure for creating banana hybrids. The first step is to gather as much pollen as possible from the chosen male parent and use it to fertilize potential female parents at the flowering stage. Next comes a four- or five-month wait for the plants to produce fruit. Then the bananas are harvested, peeled by hand and pressed through a sieve. A ton of fruit might yield a handful of seeds, less than half of which will germinate naturally. After the precious few seedlings are planted comes another 9- to 18-month wait.

Were people actively trying to breed new varieties? Or did people just plant the 1 in a Million seed they found in a edible banana?

Apparently it was only until the 16th century Spanish explorers carried bananas from Africa’s west coast to Latin America.

Re: Pacific Banana Catalogs
 

Great post.....:08:

The U.S has the most views for those links.

Re: Pacific Banana Catalogs
 

I am highly interested in that too. I want to compare it to mine. I was given a variety that I was told is from Jamaica. Its a super dwarf, and produces very reliably in poor soil. I seen it fruit in almost pure sand, and no extra irrigation. Although the bunches were small, I thought it is impressive to even fruit in those conditions.

Re: Pacific Banana Catalogs
 

What do I have to do to be able to read this? I tried to join MEL and it said that it was unable to send an email.

Re: Pacific Banana Catalogs
 

Once you open the link .
On the left side right below the photo and above authors names is VIEW/OPEN.
Click view /open and download the file.....or you may just read from that pane.