Flower bud differentiation in banana using tissue culture plants
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Date
1994
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Department of Horticulture, College of Agriculture, Vellayani
Abstract
The investigation on “Flower bud differentiation in banana using tissue culture plants” was done on two cultivars namely Robusta and Red Banana in the research plot attached to the National Agricultural Research Projects [Southern Region], Department of Horticulture, College of Agriculture, Vellayani, during the year 1992-93. The study was aimed at identifying the site, the time, the morphological, anatomical and physiological stages of flower bud differentiation.
The various stages identified in the growth of banana plant are the early vegetative phase, the late vegetative phase, the transition phase, the bract differentiation, the hand differentiation and the differentiation of floral parts in both the cultivars. The vegetative phase last upto 195 days and 330 days after planting, whereas the transition phase occurred between 195-210 and 300-330 days after planting in case of Robusta and Red Banana respectively.
The floral parts start differentiating from 210-225 days after planting and is completed by 240 days after planting in case of Robusta. In case of Red Banana, the floral parts start differentiating from 330-345 days after planting and the process gets completed by 360 days after planting.
During the vegetative stage, the apical meristem is almost a flat dome with no internodes and the main function is the production of leaves. In the transition the dome gets raised, internodes appear and starts producing bracts instead of leaves, with axillary meristematic region which later differentiate into the hand and finally the flowers.
Investigations on the morphological and physiological aspects in relation to flower bud differentiation revealed that the height, the girth, the total leaf number, leaf area of the diagnostic leaf, functional leaf area and the C/N ratio increases gradually till the completion phase in both the cultivars. But the rate of increment in height, girth and functional leaf area increased upto the transition phase. The number of functional leaves remained static from the late vegetative phase to the differentiation phase whereas the ‘D leaf’ area increment registered a decline at the transition and differentiation phases in both cultivars. The C/N ratio in leaves was found to sharply incresase during the transition and differentiation phases.
The result of the investigation reveals the absolute and impending necessity to split the existing package recommendations of fertilizers and also to reschedule irrigation in tune with the various physiological phases for maximizing use efficiency and thereby increasing production and productivity.
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