Seed set in East African Highland Cooking bananas (EAHBs) is extremely low and therefore hampers breeding. Pollen–pistil interaction is a key contributing factor. We assessed the effect of pollen germination media (PGM) on seed set in EAHBs. Five EAHB cultivars were pollinated with pollen from the wild banana ‘Calcutta 4’. Glucose-based PGM sprayed on freshly emerged stigmas significantly increased seed set per 100 fruits per bunch. Increases were 73.5% in ‘Enzirabahima’, 39.9% in ‘Mshale’, and 302.4% in ‘Nshonowa’. However, PGM did not increase seed set in the female sterile ‘Mlelembo’ and ‘Nakitembe’. As larger bunches were more fertile, good field management practices are also recommended to get more seed to improve breeding efficiency.

On-going studies on increasing seed set in banana (Matooke and Mchare) are part of the PhD study of the first author. We recognize the Breeding Better Banana project which funded the studies on banana floral biology. The authors also thank all donors who supported this work through their contributions to the CGIAR Fund (http://www.cgiar.org/funders/, accessed on 14 August 2020), and in particular to the CGIAR Research Program for Roots, Tubers, and Bananas (CRP-RTB).

https://dx.doi.org/10.3390/agronomy11061085

Multi standard citation

APAHarvardMLAVancouverChicagoIEEE

Rony Swennenhttps://orcid.org/0000-0002-5258-9043

Delphine Amahhttps://orcid.org/0000-0002-5706-8773

https://dx.doi.org/10.3390/agronomy11061085

Biotech and Plant Breeding

Agronomy; Banana; Food Security; Plant Breeding; Plant Production; Plantain

Bananas; Musa; Pollination; Seedlings; Breeding; Food Crops; Uganda; Cooking Bananas; Plantains

Africa; East Africa

Uganda

Eastern Africa Hub

Agronomy