Seed Set Patterns in East African Highland Cooking Bananas Are Dependent on Weather before, during and after Pollination
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Date
2021
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Horticulturae
Abstract
Seed set in banana is influenced by weather, yet the key weather attributes and the critical
period of influence are unknown. We therefore investigated the influence of weather during floral
development for a better perspective of seed set increase. Three East African highland cooking
bananas (EAHBs) were pollinated with pollen fertile wild banana ‘Calcutta 40 . At full maturity,
bunches were harvested, ripened, and seeds extracted from fruit pulp. Pearson’s correlation analysis
was then conducted between seed set per 100 fruits per bunch and weather attributes at 15-day
intervals from 105 days before pollination (DBP) to 120 days after pollination (DAP). Seed set was
positively correlated with average temperature (P < 0.05–P < 0.001, r = 0.196–0.487) and negatively
correlated with relative humidity (RH) (P < 0.05–P < 0.001, r = 0.158–0.438) between 75 DBP and
the time of pollination. After pollination, average temperature was negatively correlated with seed set
in ‘Mshale’ and ‘Nshonowa’ from 45 to 120 DAP (P < 0.05–P < 0.001, r = 0.213–0.340). Correlation
coefficients were highest at 15 DBP for ‘Mshale’ and ‘Nshonowa’, whereas for ‘Enzirabahima’, the
highest were at the time of pollination. Maximum temperature as revealed by principal component
analysis at the time of pollination should be the main focus for seed set increase.
Description
Keywords
Banana breeding, Matooke and Mchare pollination, PCA, Weather attributes
Citation
Waniale, A.; Swennen, R.; Mukasa, S.B.; Tugume, A.K.; Kubiriba, J.; Tushemereirwe,W.K.; Batte, M.; Brown, A.; Tumuhimbise, R. Seed Set Patterns in East African Highland Cooking Bananas Are Dependent on Weather before, during and after Pollination. Horticulturae 2021, 7, 165. https://doi.org/10.3390/ horticulturae7070165