Field Screening of Gamma-Irradiated Cavendish Bananas

AbstractIn our search for Cavendish bananas to withstand Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. cubense (Foc TR4) and other diseases, field screening of tissue-cultured Grand Nain banana seedlings derived from gamma-irradiated shoot tips was explored. Six months after irradiation and multiplication in the laboratory, the plantlets (M1V6) were individually grown in seedling bags under screen house conditions for 8 weeks, side-by-side with non-irradiated plantlets of the same clone. Once acclimatized, the banana plants were grown in an area confirmed positive of Foc TR4 (based on previous farm records stating that more than 50% of the plant population succumbed to the disease). Seedlings from each treatment (dose of radiation) were divided into four replicates, regardless of the number of plants. Each plant was given a unique identification code for traceability during disease monitoring, bunch and fruit quality evaluation.Incidences of Foc TR4, Moko disease (Ralstonia solanacearum) and virus diseases were monitored weekly. Plants found positive of any disease were eradicated immediately. The plant population for the succeeding generation was managed by removing the unwanted suckers, 12 weeks from planting using a spade gouge and keeping only one sucker per plant for the next generation. Agronomic characters of each plant were taken at the flowering stage. These included age to flower, height, pseudostem circumference, number of leaves and height of the sucker. The bunch was harvested 12 weeks from flowering. The number of hands in a bunch, the number of fingers and weight of a hand were recorded. The same agronomic characters of the plant were taken for the succeeding generations.Plants left standing in the field without any disease symptoms 3 years after planting were considered as putative mutants and were selected as candidate lines for multiplication and second-generation field screening. Only healthy suckers (free from viruses) were further multiplied via tissue culture technique to reach M1V6. Clean suckers from each line free of soil debris or dirt were sent to the laboratory for multiplication. At least 1000 plantlets were produced from each line for the second-generation field screening. These were grown in two locations – with and without records of Foc TR4. Field monitoring activities including plant population management, disease incidence assessment and fruit quality evaluation were carried out following the same protocols used in the establishment of the first-generation plants. Lines with population showing ≤10% Foc TR4 after the first harvest, with good vigor, fruit quality and productivity were considered as candidates for further multiplication, farmers distribution and field planting under semi-commercial scale.