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Journal of Agricultural Science and Food Research

Journal of Agricultural Science and Food Research
Open Access

ISSN: 2593-9173

+44 1223 790975

Abstract

Diversity of the Development Cycle Duration and Production Parameters in the Plantain Bananas Collection of Ivory Coast

Stanislas KT, Selastique AD, Fulgence TDE, Nestor GBB, Charlotte TD, Francis SE, Sylvie S and Perla H

The production of plantain bananas is threatened in Ivory Coast due to the irregularly of the rainfall and the water scarcity. Matching the sensitive steppes of the development cycle with the rainfall periods by shortening or lengthening the development cycle duration could be an appropriate strategy to increase the plantain yield. Therefore, better knowledge about the diversity of the fructification time and the parameters of production is required. Hence forty-two (42) cultivars of the plantain germplasm were studied. The development cycle duration was splited into two steppes: vegetative, from planting to blooming and fructification, from blooming to harvest. Some production parameters such as the bunch weight, the number of hands per bunch, the number of fruits per hand and per bunch and the fruits weight and diameter were scored. A great variability was recorded for all analyzed parameters. Three groups of the plantain cultivars consisting of early (269 days), intermediate (360 days) and late (390 days) cultivars were found. These groups corresponded respectively to the Cooking bananas cultivar of ABB type, the Horn type (False or True) and the French type. Three modal distribution was observed as well as for the development cycle as for the number of hands per bunch and the number of fruits per hand suggested major genes effect. The development cycle duration had an impact on the production parameters. The late cultivars produced bigger bunch than the early and intermediate groups. However, their fruits were small size contrarily to those of the early and intermediate groups. Since the relationship found was not strong enough, a real opportunity for improving the plantains bananas production by the variability existed. Within and between groups hybridisation could allowed at once a combination between bigger bunch and bigger fruit in cultivars exhibiting short, middle or long development cycle duration which fits well with the rainfall period.

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