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Megasporogenesis and female fertility in three edible triploid bananas

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Summary

The female cytology of three edible triploid banana clones (‘Mysore’, ‘Pisang awak’, ‘Bluggoe’) is described. Irregularities of meiosis and embryo-sac formation are numerous and development is often delayed in respect to ovary development or altogether arrested. Mature embryo-sacs are therefore rare. Comparison of seed fertilities of the three clones with their cytology suggests that embryo-sac formation is limiting to fertility in at least two of them. In ‘Gros Michel’, by contrast, embryo sac frequency far exceeds fertility, thus giving some encouragement to the banana breeder’s hope of manipulating the seed yield of this clone. The observations, for technical and statistical reasons, give little information about the origin of polyploid progeny; indirect inference suggests that both “Rosenberg” and “Musa-type” restitutions are concerned.

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Author notes

  1. N. W. Simmonds

    Present address: Department of Potato Genetics, John Innes Institute, Bayfordbury, Hertford, England

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Regional Research Centre, Imperial College of Tropical Agriculture, Trinidad, W.I.

    N. W. Simmonds

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  1. N. W. Simmonds
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Simmonds, N.W. Megasporogenesis and female fertility in three edible triploid bananas. J Genet 57, 269–278 (1960). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02987233

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02987233

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