CHAPTER-I

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Banana is an important fruit for millions of people across the globe. The
nutritional analysis of fruits revealed that 100 g of the edible banana contains
approximately 76.0% moisture, 85 calories, 1% protein, a negligible amount of fat
and around 23% of carbohydrates,80 mg calcium, 0.7 mg iron, 190 IU vit. A, 0.05 mg
thiamine, 0.06 mg riboflavin, 0.7 mg niacin, 10 mg ascorbic acid and several amino
acids like histidine, isoleucine, leucine, lysine, methionine, phenylalanine, threonine,
tryptophan and valine (Robinson,1968). Cooked tender banana is believed to assist in
curing stomach ulcers. Banana skin extract is popularly used for overcoming urinary
tract infection and loose motions. Banana with sugar and honey has been a popular
folk medicine to combat cough.

Banana known for its antiquity in India, from its mention in the Ramayana
(2020 BC) is an important fruit grown commercially in our country. It is interwoven
in cultural heritage and its plant, leaves and fruits are auspicious in all the festive
occasions, be it a social function or worship of God. In ancient times Indian saints
lived on the diet of banana. In recent years it is also reported that people in the
African countries also live on banana diet. The ripe bananas are sugary and easily
digestible. The unripe fruits are cooked which provide a starchy food nutritionally
similar to potato, wheat and rice. Half of the banana in the world are eaten as plantain
and rest half as dessert. The daily consumption of banana in Buganda is 4.0 to 4.5 kg
per head per day of which 2.25 to 2.7 kg is edible matter. In Uganda and Tanzania
large quantities of beer are prepared from banana and the beer is very rich in Vit. B
due to yeast content (Purseglove,1974). Many sweetmeats of various types are made
from banana in many parts of the tropical world. They include banana figs which are
prepared by drying slices of ripe fruits. Banana chips are made from fully mature
unripe fruits. Large quantities of banana chips are exported from Kerala alone to
many countries. Banana powder prepared from ripe fruits is used in confectioneries.
Children having intestinal complaints are regularly fed with banana. People working
in the stone crusher unit and exposed to severe dust environment are advised to take
bananas with molasses regularly. The male buds are used as vegetable in our country.

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The tender inflorescence stalks are also used as vegetable. The pseudostem is fed to
the cattle. All over the world where banana is grown the leaves are used as plates for
serving food. In Africa the leaves are used for thatching the houses. The fibre from
the pseudostem is used for making fabrics or rough cordage (Purseglove, 1974).

Banana is invariably used in folk medicines. From vedic times it has been
recognized as an item to cure many diseases. The roots, leaves, fruits and stems of
banana are used in various ailments. Roots are anthelmintic, antiscorbutic, depurative
and tonic and are useful in venereal diseases, helminthiasis, scabies, leprosy, skin
diseases and debility. The tender leaves are useful in scabies, inflammation,
opthalmopathy, blisters and burns. It is believed that taking hot rice on banana leaves
arrests the spread of white spots in leucoderma. The fruits are sweet, astringent,
emollient, cooling, aphrodisiac and useful in vitiated conditions of bile. Fruits are also
used in bronchitis, nephropathy and general debility. The ashes obtained by burning
the plant are antiscorbutic and stomachic and useful in hyperacidity, heart burn, colic
and verminosis .Flowers are used in dysentery, diabetes and dropsy. The inflorescence
axis is used to cure renal diseases and vesical calculi. In recent years it is reported that
the tender pseudostems are very effective in controlling diabetes and the corms are
effective to purify the blood and control worms. The ashes of the banana plant is used
in villages to clean clothes (Varier, 1995).Very recently research conducted in
University of Alabama, USA discovered the effects after analyzing foods like bananas
to be rich in K can stop fatal blockages and inhibit the hardening and narrowing of
the arteries (Times Trends, 9th Oct. 2017, Times of India).The report says eating
bananas everyday could help prevent heart attacks and strokes.

The aesthetic value of banana is well acclaimed all over India. No sacred
rituals and functions of Hindus can be performed without planting banana plants in
front of the house and using banana leaves in the rituals (puja). Large banana
plantations are beautiful to look at, eco-friendly, impart cooling to eyesight and
reduce mental tension.

Banana evolved in the humid tropical regions of S.E. Asia with India as one
of its centres of origin. At present banana is being cultivated throughout the warm
tropical regions of the world between 300N and 300S of the equator. Both bananas and
plantains are grown in about 120 countries.

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 Banana is the most important among the tropical fruits, second to grapes in
production. It is one of the most important fruit crops of India and covers an area of
859 thousand hectares with an annual production of 30.43 million tonnes (NHB,2016-
2017). In India banana ranks first in production and third in area among fruit crops. It
plays an important role in the socio-economic development of millions of people and
accounts for 13% of the total area under fruits and 33% of the total production of
fruits. Production is highest in Maharastra(3924.1 thousand tonnes) followed by
Tamil Nadu(3543.8 thousand tonnes). Within India, Maharastra has the highest
productivity of 65.70 metric tonnes/ha against national average of 30.5 tonnes/ha. The
other major banana producing states are Karnataka, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh and
Assam (NHB, 2016-2017).

The cultivated bananas are triploids having a basic chromosome no. x=11 and
somatic chromosome no. 2n=33. Thus, they produce parthenocarpic fruits which are
seedless. Some bananas are diploids and produce seeds. Cultivated bananas have been
conventionally propagated by vegetative means through suckers since their
domestication. Though true-to-type plants are produced by suckers; production is
marred not only by the transmission of various diseases and pests but also the
bulkiness of the propagules hinders its long distance transportation.

Except in breeding work all bananas are propagated vegetatively and the type
of planting material used are peppers, sword suckers, maiden suckers, bits of larger
corms and water suckers. Peepers are very small with scale leaves appearing above
the ground, hence normally not used for propagation. Sword suckers are the best type
of planting material and these are produced from the buds or eyes low on the corm
and bear narrow sword leaves.

Micropropagation in banana has gained importance in the recent years due to

manifold advantages viz. uniformity of plants, freedom from viral diseases, plants
give an early harvest, easy for bulk transportation, faster turnover and mass
production of plants all the year round. However, during field establishment the tissue
culture plants require higher level of care than conventional planting material.

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 Several types of banana are adapted to the agro-climatic condition of Odisha.
Traditionally the important cultivars grown in the state are Silk (Patkapura), Poovan
(Champa), Cavendish group and Plantains. Recently, there has been a trend towards
cultivation of Grand Naine and Amritpani due to high production, productivity and
consumer acceptability. Thus, there is a tremendous demand for the planting materials
of these varieties especially Poovan (Champa) as it is immune to Panama wilt as well
as fairly resistant to leaf spot and Amritpani due to its superior fruit quality.

The banana cv. Poovan (AAB) belongs to the ‘Mysore’ group and cv.
Amritpani (AAB) to the ‘Silk’ group. Till date micropropagation has been
successfully standardized in the banana cultivars belonging to the ‘Cavendish’ group
which possess AAA genomic constitution. In the banana cultivars having one or more
‘B’ genes, micropropagation is hindered due to the exudation of phenolic compounds
which slow down and hamper the tissue proliferation in vitro. Both the cultivars
selected for investigation viz. Amritpani and Poovan possess the genomic constitution
‘AAB’. Till now no work has been done to standardize the in vitro protocol for both
these cultivars of banana even though they are most popular cultivars grown all over
the eastern, north eastern and southern parts of our country. Poovan is a very hardy
cultivar with excellent ratooning ability and good keeping quality. Poovan is a highly
popular cultivar, best ratooner, leading variety of north and south eastern states, bears
heavy bunches of more than 25 kg, bunch is closely packed with short and stout fruits,
fruits with conspicuous beak, bunch maybe with 150-300 fruits and 10-14 hands. Plants
3-5 m high, crop duration 16-17 months, plants hardy, fruits with good keeping quality,
ripe fruits yellow, pulpy and slightly acidic. Standardization of micropropagation protocol
in Poovan will enable the farmers to obtain good quality, uniform and disease free plants
for ratooning for 6-7 years. The cv. Amritpani is excellent in fruit quality, similar to
Rasthali but has an added advantage due to freedom from early pedicel dehiscence from
the bunch which is a major lacuna in cv. Rasthali. Amritpani is a choicest table variety,
tasty and crisp,fruits have a pleasant sour-sweet blend, pleasant flavor, fruits terete
tapering to an apex, bold and stout,turn light yellow on ripening, flesh bone white, plants
medium statured i.e.3-4 m in height, cropping duration is 13-15 months and bunch weight
25 kg or more. Thus, standardization of viable in vitro protocol for mass propagation of
these two banana cultivars will not only be of tremendous commercial importance but
also a boon to the growers.

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 The Amritpani (AAB) and Poovan (AAB) are propagated vegetatively
through mother rhizome and suckers. The rate of multiplication is very slow as one
plant produces only 4-5 suckers in a year. The underground structures are exposed to
biotic stresses viz. pests and pathogens and thus, the risk of spread of infection is
high. Besides, higher cost of rhizome production and tedious method of
transportation, high volume of planting materials are the major constraints faced by
the farmers.

Considering the problems associated with this important fruit crop, it is

essential to find out an alternative method of propagation by bypassing the slow rate
of multiplication, to reduce the cost of transportation and to produce the true-to-type
disease free stocks within a shorter period of time. In vitro cloning, a real method
biotechnology is considered to be most appropriate technology of propagation to fulfil
all the present day requirements of the banana cvs. Amritpani and Poovan. Therefore,
the present investigation was undertaken with the following objectives:

1) To study the impact of plant bio-regulators on callusing of banana cvs.

Amritpani and Poovan

2) To standardize the media supplements for shoot initiation and

proliferation.

3) To study the effect of auxins on induction of roots from micro shoots

developed in vitro.

4) To acclimatize and establish in vitro raised plantlets in greenhouse/

polyhouse.