Château-Musa - Bioversity International

High numbers of NFL at flowering in the
hybrids (Table 1) reflect resistance to black leaf
streak disease, in contrast to ‘Gros Michel’,
which is highly susceptible. Although the
data reflect differences in leaf longevity and
the response of hybrids to black leaf streak
disease, they do not account for the differences
in bunch weight. Guzmán and Romero (1996)
reported that ‘FHIA-01’ had 8 and 10 functional
leaves at harvest; nevertheless the results
obtained in this study do reflect adaptation in
the hybrids to conditions in the zone.
Aubert (1971) reported that under conditions
favourable to the cultivation of bananas,
the time between planting and emergence
of the inflorescence is less than 7 months.
This criterion was not achieved under the
conditions of the present study and the earliest
material (‘FHIA-03’) took almost 10 months
to come into bud. According to Cottin et al.
(1987), the duration of the vegetative cycle
of bananas depends on climate (mainly
temperature which, in the tropics, is strongly
associated with altitude). This produces large
cyclic variations of 7 to 22 months, and cultural
practices, such as irrigation, cultivar, density
and the time of planting, also influence the
duration of the cycle. In this study, the hybrids
were much earlier than ‘Gros Michel’, which
is a big advantage; nevertheless bunch filling
was faster in ‘Gros Michel’ than in the hybrids,
probably due to difference in the longevity and
size of the leaf (Table 1).
Growth and production characteristics
‘FHIA-23’ and ‘FHIA-17’ showed the least
variation in plant height. ‘FHIA-17’ and ‘FHIA-
18’ produced the shortest plants, whereas
‘Gros Michel’ produced the tallest plants,
although the range of variation was similar to
that of ‘FHIA-03’. ‘FHIA-23’ had the thickest
pseudostem and was the least variable.
‘Gros Michel’, ‘FHIA-01’ and ‘FHIA-03’
showed the highest variation in days to
flowering, and the range in variation exceeded
100 days for all cultivars except ‘FHIA-18’
(Table 2).
Table 2. Maximum and minimum values of growth and production parameters of hybrids cultivated in Santagueda.
Variable FHIA-03 FHIA-17 FHIA-18 FHIA-01 FHIA-23 Gros Michel
Min Max Min Max Min Max Min Max Min Max Min Max
Height (m) 2.8 3.9 2.5 3.1 2.3 3.2 3.1 3.8 3.2 3.7 3.9 5.0
Diameter (cm) 17 26 17.2 22.5 19.0 22.1 21 27 24 27 19.5 25.6
Days to flowering 240 450 268 380 279 373 308 476 343 457 338 488
Days to harvest 366 576 436 520 415 541 433 545 443 582 451 548
Number of emerged leaves 37 52 36 47 28 42 37 52 34 43 42 52
Number of functional leaves at flowering 8 12 9 13 9 14 8 12 7 11 2 8
Number of functional leaves at harvest 3 9 4 7 1 6 3 9 2 6 0 5
Total numbert of fruits - - 104 156 89 167 155 226 182 266 81 177
Weight of first hand (kg) - - 1.7 5.2 3.2 4.2 2.3 5.5 3.3 7.3 2.2 3.3
Weight of bunch (kg) - - 18.0 29.4 16.6 24.5 24.7 46.4 37.4 58.4 12.0 20.8
48
Plants of ‘FHIA-23’ and ‘FHIA-18’ had the
fewest leaves, although ‘FHIA-01’ and ‘FHIA-
03’ were the most variable for this character.
‘FHIA-01’ and ‘FHIA-03’ had the highest NFL
at flowering in comparison with ‘Gros Michel’
which had the lowest. The highest numbers
of fruits per bunch were observed in ‘FHIA-
01’ and ‘FHIA-23’ (Table 2). NFL is a good
indicator of tolerance or susceptibility to
Sigatoka diseases, and correlates well with
bunch weight (Alvarez 1997).
According to reports from FHIA (2000), in
conditions differing from the present study
(latitude N 15°21’’ and longitude W 87°56’’, 25
masl, mean temperature 26°C), the number of
days to flowering of ‘FHIA-23’ varied between
370 to 436 days and days to flowering to
harvest between 90 to 100 days, lower than
observations in the present study, mainly
because of differences in altitude.
Bunch parameters
All yield parameters differed significantly
between the cultivars studied (Table 3).
‘FHIA-18’ and ‘FHIA-23’ produced more fruits
in the first two hands but only in ‘FHIA-23’ did
the weight of these exceed 5 kg. All bunch
parameters were significantly lower in ‘Gros
Michel’.
The total number of fingers stood out as
significantly higher in ‘FHIA-23’ which produced
34 more fingers than ‘FHIA-01’, the next highest,
and 100 more than ‘Gros Michel’, which had the
lowest numbers of fruits (Table 3).
The weight and length of the middle fruit were
significantly higher in ‘FHIA-01’ and ‘FHIA-23’.
‘FHIA-23’ and ‘FHIA-17’ had the highest values
for the width of the middle fruit. ‘FHIA-18’
produced the lowest values for the middle fruit
parameters. On average, ‘FHIA-23’ produced
significantly heavier bunches, with values that
were 14 kg higher than those produced by
‘FHIA-01’, the next heaviest, and almost 24 kg
more than those of ‘Gros Michel’, which had
the smallest bunches (Table 3). The mean
bunch weight was almost half that reported by
Grisales (1996) in a soil typical of the central
InfoMusa - Vol 12 - No.1