Comparison between micropropagated banana (Musa AAA; 'Williams') and conventional planting material during the first 12 months of development

Abstract

An understanding of the suckering behaviour of micropropagated bananas is important not only in terms of commercial management but also to gain further appreciation of the physiological mechanisms involved in sucker development. Field studies showed that plants of micropropagated banana (Musa sp., AAA, Cavendish subgroup) produced significantly more suckers than plants grown from conventional planting material (sections of the rhizome with a lateral bud, termed bits). However, when bits were established in containers in a glasshouse and grown under the same conditions as micropropagated plants, the differences became less distinct. In fact, height, dry-matter accumulation and leaf area of the mother plants of micropropagated plants was similar to those of plants grown from containerized bits. Plants derived from bits that had been established directly in the field always lagged behind plants grown from the other two sources. The most significant difference between micropropagated plants and those grown from containerized bits was greater leaf area and dry weight of suckers from the micropropagated plants. Suckers with large leaf areas were categorized as water suckers. These differences may be related to root density and point of sucker origin on the rhizome and supports the need to desucker the early flush of new suckers on young micropropagated plants.