This document discusses advances in breeding fruit crops, specifically focusing on bananas. It provides details on the history, genetics, breeding objectives and techniques used for banana breeding. Some key points: - Banana breeding aims to develop varieties with traits like disease resistance, dwarf stature, high yield, and abiotic stress tolerance. - Techniques used include hybridization between diploid and tetraploid parents to produce triploid hybrids, as well as mutation breeding and tissue culture. - Challenges in banana breeding include its vegetative propagation, parthenocarpy, polyploidy and long generation time. - Popular varieties developed through breeding include Grand Nain, Lady Finger, and

1. Advances in breeding of fruit crops
Speaker by
Gangaram Rana
Ph.D scalars
Dept. Fruit Sciences
IGKV,RAIPUR

2. Introduction
Botanical name:- Musa paradisiaca L.
 Family:- Musaceae, Chromosome no. – 2n= 2x=22,3x=33,4x=44
Cultivated is mostly auto-triploid (3x=33) and vegetative parthenocarpy
Origin – South East Asia (Indo- Malaya)
Inflorescence – Spidix (special type inflorescence)
Flower is female and hermaphrodite
About 12 leave are full formed till flowering .
Pollination – Orthithophilous Archilochus colubris (Humming bird)
Bearing habit – Terminal (old season growth)
Fruit type – berry & edible part – mesocarp and endocarp
Growth habit – (1) seeded banana- single sigmoide growth
(2) seedless banana – double sigmoide growth
Genome size is 523 Mbp
Fruit crops in highested tissue culture is in world. (G-9)

3. History of banana breeding:-
 Banana breeding was started in Trinidad, West Indies in 1922 and
in Jamaica in 1924 (Shepherd, 1994).
 1947 – Bodless Iaimania
 In India hybridization work was started at Central Banana
Research Station, Adhuthurai, Tamil Nadu in 1949.
 Simmond and Shephered (1955) scoring technique .

4. Origin –
 Warm most regions of tropical Asia
 Malyan area- primary centre of origin of cultivated banana
M.acuminalata (AA,AAA)
 India – Banana – M.balbissiana (BB)- native
 Natural hybridization (AAB), (AAB)
 NRC Banana Trichy (TN) – 597 Accersion

5. Evolutionary Mechanisms:-
• The edible banana is believed to have originated in the hot, tropical regions
of South-East Asia (Spiden, 1926, Sauer, 1952).
• Malayan area seems to be the primary centre of origin of cultivated banana
(M. acuminata).
• India is considered to be one of the centres of orign of banana. Probably M.
acuminata spread in India and Burma where M. balbisiana is native species.
Adaptation and domestication: -
• According to Simmonds (1966), existence and distribution of wild banana
belonging to groups AAB, ABB and ABBB are mostly relevant to north
eastern states on India. While diploid AB group is mostly confined to southern
India.

6. Genetic Resources:-
• More no. of genotypes of banana are maintained at Central Banana
Research Station, Aduthuri (Nayer, 1957).
• At present 303 named varieties of banana have been maintained in
germplasm collection at various centres (Singh and Chadha, 1993).

7. Different institutes where field gene banks of banana are
being maintained as under:
Sno. Name of the Institue/University Number of
Collections
1. Indian Institute of Horticulture
Research, Banglore
250
2. Tamil Nadu Agricultural University,
Coimbatore
243
3. Kerala Agricultural University,
Kannara
257
4. Central Horticulture Experiment
Station, Ranchi
109
5. National Research Centre on
Banana, Trichur
412
6. National Bureau of Plant Genetic
Resources, Regional Station, Trichur
412

8. Musa has about 50 species and this genus is divided into five
sections:
Eumusa: Includes about 13-15 species of edible and wild banana.
Rhodochlamys: Mostly diploid, spread from India to Indonesia. Five to seven species are
kept in this group. Parthenocarpy is absent in this group.
Callimusa: This is of ornamental value and it is found in Indo China, Malaya and
Borneo. Parthenocarpy is absent in this type. It includes about 5-6
species
Australimusa:. Species of this group is common in Queensland and Philippines.
Important species of this group are M. textilis or manilahemp, M.
maclavi etc.
Incertae sedis : It includes M. ingens of New Guinea which grows to a height of over
10 m. This is the largest known herb. Another species in this group is M.
beccarii from North Borneo

9. Where is IITA in genetic improvement of bananas?
IITA (International Institute of Tropical Agriculture)
1. Genetic improvement at IITA has targeted mostly resistance to BS
2. Relatively narrow gene pool (Obino Lewai, Mbi Egome and Bobby Tannap crossed by
Pisang Lilin and Calcutta 4)
3. Hybrids from IITA under evaluation in farmers’fields
EAHB background with Matoke-like characteristics: >5
Plantain banana background: >5 hybrids of the PITA series
Cooking bananas ABB background: BITA3

10. Cytogenetics:-
• The basic chromosome number in banana varies from 7-11.
• All edible banana are originated from two wild species i.e.
M.acuminata and M.balbisiana and their hybrids.
• The basic chromosome number of all edible banana is 11.
• The cultivated edible bananas are mainly triploid.
• The genetic classification of banana was given by Simmonds and
Shepherd (1955).

11. Taxonomy:-
• Numerical taxonomy, based on genomic contributions and ploidy
(Simmonds and weatherup, 1990) confirmed that Musa land races should
be designated as
• AAA dessert banana, AAA high land cooking, AAB plantains, AAB dessert
banana of and ABB cooking bananas.
Genome Constitution Ploidy level Nomenclature
AA 2x Matti, Anai komban
AAA 3x Gros Michel, Cavendish
AAAA 4x Bodles Altafort
AB 2x Ney Poovan, Kunnan
AAB 3x Champa, Rsathali
ABB 3x Kanchkela, Monthan
ABBB 4x Klue Teparod

12. Plaintain:-
The plaintain land races from French, French horn, False horn and True
horn.
• True horn plaintain:- Incomplete inflorescence, hermaphrodite and male flowers
are absent .
• False horn plaintain:- Inflorescence is incomplete, hands consisting of large
fingers followed by few hermaphrodite flowers.
• French horn plantain:- In this group inflorescence is again incomplete, hand
consisting large fingers and many hermaphrodite flowers.
• French plaintain:- At maturity hands having many fruits, inflorescence axis
covered with persistant.
French False horn Horn

13. Breeding Objectives of Banana:-
• Dwarf statured banana suitable for high density planting and to prevent damage
from high wind velocity.
• Production of good quality fruits.
• Resistant to biotic and biotic stresses i.e. nematodes, panama wilt, bunchy top,
sigatoka leaf spot, moko disease and pseudostem weevil etc.
• To develop varieties with wider agro-ecological adaptability.
• Development of male fertile parthenocarpic diploids with resistance to major
diseases and pests.
• Developing longer finger size.
• Suitability for export.
• Good keeping quality.

14. Breeding bottlenecks
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- Difficult
- Complicated
- Time consuming
- Low reproductive fertility
- Parthenocarpy
- Polyploidy
- Slow propagation
- Large space requirement (6m2/plant)
- Long generation time (about2 years from seed to seed)

15. Floral biology:-
• Inflorescence develops from the heart of
pseudostem.
• Type of inflorescence is spadix.
• Basal flowers behave as pistillate flowers while
the terminal ones as staminate. At the bottom end,
forms a bulbous male bud. Pistillate flowers are
large in size and have well developed ovaries.
• Staminate flowers have long stamens, filaments
filiform, free anthers two lobed.
• The female and male flowers open by 6:30-8:00
am. Female flower Male flower

16. male flowers
Pollination7.30-10.30am
female flowers
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17.  Floral Biology Habit: It is a tall herb, growing to a height of 2-6 m,
monocarpic, monocotyledons, perennial.
 Underground stem: The real stem is called ‘corm’. The growth is called
‘sympodial’. The corm terminal growing point produces leaf in spiral
succession. In the axils of each leaf, a bud is present.
 Aerial stem / pseudostem: The pseudostem made of number of leaf sheaths
completely enclosing the axis of the stem.
 Leaves: Spirally arranged and consist of a sheath, petiole and leaf lamina or
blade.
 Edible banana is parthenocarpic – 3x without pollination
 In seeded banana – “pollination by bees & birds” (Rao,1984)

18. Genetics of important traits and their inheritance pattern:-
Traits Type of Inheritance
Dwarfness Single dominant gene and influenced by modifier gene
Albinism in Musa species Two independent recessive alleles with complimentary
gene action. (Ortiz and Vuylsteke, (1994))
Seed sterility in banana Cytogenetic factors
Apical dominance Major recessive genes control
Parthenocarpy Dominant gene(Pi) affected by modifier gene
Black sigatoka
resistance.
Recessive gene (bsi)
Fruit size of high yielding
plantain
Epistasis, both (additive X additive) and (additive X
intralocus interaction), of the bsi and Pi loci (Ortiz and
Vuylsteke, 1996).
Suckering Dominant (ad) alleles
Dwarfism in banana A single recessive gene (dw).
Bunch orientation Oligogenic trait regulated by the epistatic effects of at
least three dominant loci.
Panama wilt Polygenic gene

19. Inheritance Patten
 Edible banana - male & female are sterile (with some
exceptions)
 Musa balbisiana no parthenocarpic
 General in was studied by Albino (lack of chlorophyll)
 (Ortiz, 1995) provided tools is study complicated Banana genome
 Apical dominance recessive gene
 Parthenocarpic dominant gene
 Black sigatoka resistance (bsi) Recessive gene
 Dwarfing sm (dw) is controlled by single recessive gene.
 Bunch orientation – oligogenic – epistatic effect – 3 dominant
alleles

20. Recent advances in crop improvement:-
Introduction:-
• Lady Finger (EC 160160) is introduced from Australia which is resistant to bunchy
top virus. evaluated at IIHR, Bangalore and TNAU, Coimbatore
• Grand Nain is introduced from France for utilization in improvement programme
(Singh and Rana, 1993).
• Naine MS (EC 27237)- France Valery from West Indies introduced for utilization in
improvement programme (Singh and Rana, 1993).
Lady Finger (EC 160160) Grand Nain Naine MS (EC 27237)-

21. Selection
 All common varieties are selection
 Asia – 30 clones are grown
 Naturally evolved – dominated – production
 TBRI – Taiwan Banana Research Institute
 GCTCV- 215-1 (Tai – Chiao No. 1)
 GCTCV – 105- 1
 Cavendish BF ( Tai- Chiao- No. 2)
 Pei- Chiao – Dwarf stature & Resistance to Fusarium oxsyorum wilt
(Tang & Hwars, 1994)

22. Hybridization:-
• In India, breeding work was started at Central Banana Research
Station, Aduthurai (Tamil Nadu) in 1949. (Sathiamoorthy and
Balamohan, 1993).
• Three main approaches in breeding dessert bananas of the
Cavendish types are:
1. 3n x 2 n superior diploid; there is no chromosome reduction in
the egg cells thus yielding tetraploids.
2. 4 n bred tetraploids hybrids x 2n superior diploids producing
‘Natural triploids’.
3. 2 n meiotic restituting clones x 2n superior diploids producing
‘Natural triploids’.

23. • Inter diploid hybridization (2x) – No common success
• Triploid breeding –
Diploid x Tetraploid (male parent – aborite gametes )
• Several triploid by use of high gate (AAA as female parent X Wild as male )
• Tetraploide breeding –
SH-927(Cocos x Lidi)
Boldess Aldafort ,SH-34336
• FHIA – Fundation Hondurena of Inverstingacion Agricola
X 2X
3X Triploid

24. Hybrids Parents Remark
CO-1 Laden x M. balbisiana x
Kadali
TNAU,
H-1 KAU, short duration , resistance leaf
sport, Fusarium wilt
H-2 Vaman X pisang lilin KAU, tolerant leaf sport & nematodes
BRS-1 (Agniswar x Pisang lilin) Resistant to sigatoka leaf spot)
BRS -2 (Vannan x Pisang lillin)
FHIA-0 1 SH-3142 x Dwarf Prata Res. Black sigatoka , Fusarium wilt &
browening nematode
FHIA-2 Williaam X SH-3393 AAAA, susceptible to Fusarium wilt
FHIA-3 SH-3387 X Calcutta -4 AABB, drought tolerant, double
porpose

25. Mutation breeding:-
 Suckers are not suitable for mutagen treatment – size differentiation
 In vitro callus as mono culture – for treatment
 60CO is use as source of gamma irradiation
• Several natural sports of well-established commercial clones have been recognized:
Variety Parent
High gate (AAA) is a semi-dwarf mutant Gros Michel (AAA)
Motta Poovan (AAB) Poovan (AAB)
Ayiranka Rasthali Rasthali
Barhari Malbhog Malbhog
Krishna Vazhai Virupakshi
Sambrani Monthan (ABB). Monthan (ABB).
Grande Naine – gamma irridication – Novaria- Malaysia (Mals et. al, 1996)

26. Micropropagation
Shoot tip initiation
Establishment and proliferation
Multiple budformation
Rooted plantlets
Sword suckers Explant preparation
Shoot tip culture
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27. Ripening and seed extraction
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Embryo culture

28. embryo extraction
embryo germination
bud proliferation
root development
acclimatization
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29. Popular Varieties Grown in India is:-
Cavendish Banana:
• This fruit is available around 50% of banana
production.
• The other name of this banana is also called as
Common Banana.

30. Dwarf Cavendish Banana:
The name Dwarf Cavendish banana tree comes from the plant
structure which is small in height also called Dwarf Musa
Banana.

31. Gross Michel:
 Gross Michel is one other type of banana which is
also called as Big Mike.
 The main reason for good export quality is due to the
thick outer skin of the fruit making it resistant against
any transportation damage.

32. Red Banana:
This is a famous Banana variety in
India which has a reddish to purple
coloured outer thick skin.

33. Nendran:
• This is one of the main types of banana in Kerala, State in
India.
• The fruit is considered as one of the scared fruits in Kerala
which is offered in many temples.

34. Grand Naine:
 This fruit belongs to the Cavendish family. The fruit is included
in the AAA genotype where the fruit is seedless.
 The plant is resistant to most of the diseases as well as any
climatic conditions like a strong source of wind.

35. Robusta Banana:
Robusta Banana is one of the most important and commercially sold
banana types.

36. Dwarf Plantain:
• This fruit is green in colour raw banana which is called as
Plantain.
• This plant produces plenty of raw plantains easily which makes
it a high yield plant.

37. Udhayam :
 A single plant selection belonging to Pisang Awak (ABB) subgroup. It gives 40
per cent higher yield than local Karpuravalli.
 Crop duration is 14 - 15 months and yield remains stable even in ratoons.
 Exhibits field tolerance to Sigatoka leaf spot and nematodes.