Seed Set Patterns in East African Cooking Bananas (Musa spp.) are Dependent on Weather Before, During, and After Pollination
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Date
2020
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Research Square
Abstract
Seed set in banana (Musa spp.) is influenced by weather but the most critical weather
attribute(s) and the critical period are unknown. Such information is of paramount importance to increase
seed set for banana breeding programs. Three female fertile East African cooking bananas (EACBs),
‘Enzirabahima’ (AAA), ‘Mshale’ (AA), and ‘Nshonowa’ (AA) were pollinated with the highly male fertile wild
banana ‘Calcutta 4’ (AA). At full maturity, bunches were harvested and ripened and seeds extracted from
ripe fruit pulp. Seed set was then correlated with weather before, during, and after pollination.
Results: Seed set was positively correlated with high temperatures (r=0.172 – 0.488), solar radiation
(r=0.181 – 0.282) and negatively correlated with rainfall (r=-0.214 – -0.238) and relative humidity (RH)
(r=-0.158 – -0.438) between 75 and 15 days before pollination (DBP). The pattern of weather association
was cultivar-dependent with ‘Nshonowa’ having the strongest significant associations. At the time of
pollination, high average temperatures were critical for seed set in ‘Enzirabahima’ (r=0.214, P<0.01) while
high morning RH was critical for ‘Mshale’ (r=0.299, P<0.01). After pollination, high morning temperatures
were associated with seed set (r=0.150 – 0.429) between 15 days to 90 days after pollination (DAP). High
average temperatures were negatively correlated with seed set in ‘Mshale’ and ‘Nshonowa’ from 45 DAP to
time of harvest (r=-0.208 – -0.344). Coefficients of correlation were generally highest 15 DBP especially for
‘Mshale’ and ‘Nshonowa.’ Principle component analysis showed that average and maximum temperature
are the most important variables in the entire data set.
Conclusion: Coefficients of correlation were generally less than 0.5 partly as a result of weather
involvement in seed set at several floral development stages; before, during, and after pollination. The most
critical developmental stage is 15 DBP especially for ‘Mshale’ and ‘Nshonowa’ as they had the high
correlation coefficients. Average temperature should be the main focus for seed set increase in banana.
Description
Keywords
Banana breeding, Matooke and Mchare pollination, PCA, Weather attributes
Citation
Waniale, A., Mukasa, S. B., Tugume, A. K., Tumuhimbise, R., Kubiriba, J., Tushemereirwe, W. K., ... & Swennen, R. (2020). Seed Set Patterns in East African Cooking Bananas (Musa spp.) are Dependent on Weather Before, During, and After Pollination. https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-38376/v1