MSc

Studies on pollen morphology, fertility and compatibility of banana were carried out in the Department of Pomology and Floriculture, College of Horticulture, Vellanikkara during the year 1982 and 1983.
The genomic configuration and the ploidy levels influenced the duration of the male and female phases of the clones as well as their total duration. The duration of male and female phases decreased with the increased ploidy level and increased with presence of ‘B’ genomes. Total duration increased with the increase in ploidy levels and with presence of B genomes. The lifting of bracts in banana was influenced by the environmental factors irrespective of the ploidy level or genomic configuration. It ranged from zero to four per day.
Pollen grains were creamy white in colour and spherical in shape. The pollen size increased with the increase in ploidy levels. Acuminata genome generally contributed towards increased pollen size. The pollen size in the clones studied ranged from 99.21 µ to 179.09 µ.

Out of the 72 clones studied, only 53 produced pollen. The AB group did not produce pollen. In the case of triploids and tetraploids, clones of pure acuminate produced more number of pollen grains than that in the clones of bispecific group. Pollen production per another ranged from 1,041.3 to 16,354.2.

Pollen viability was more in the case of nonspecific clones than in clones of bispecific origin. Tetraploids recorded the highest viability of pollen followed by in diploids and in triploids. Pollen germination and tube growth was found maximum in 12 per cent sucrose + 10 ppm boric acid. The germination was found maximum after 26 hours of dusting them on the medium.
Pollen storage studies showed that when flowers along with the bract were stored in the open at room temperature, the pollen remained viable for 14 days. The storage life was increased to the maximum ie. To 29.5 days when flowers along with bracts were stored in a refrigerator (40C and 40% RH). The flowers when kept in desiccator inside the refrigerator resulted in slight reduction in storage life (24 days).
Out of 27 cross combination studied, 8 combinations, Agniswar x Pisang lilin, Palayankodan x Pisang lilin, Harichal x Pisang lilin, Lacatan x Pisang lilin, Mannan x Pisang lilin, Nendra vannan x Pisang lilin, Palayankodan x Sikuzani and Nendran x Sikuzani were compatible. Among them clones ‘Agniswar’ and ‘palayankodan’ were found more female fertile and ‘Pisang lilin’ and ‘sikuzani’ were the only compatible males with various female parents. The seed set noticed in Nendran by crossing with a compatible male parent is reported for the first time.
The fertility pattern with reference to the hands in a bunch showed variation. In the clones ‘Agniswar’ and ‘Palayankodan’, the basal hands upto the middle of the bunch were more fertile. Fertility in basal hands was also found in the case of ‘Harichal’, ‘Nendra vannan’ and ‘Nendran’, while the same was found distributed in the case of ‘Mannan’ and ‘Lacatan’.