African Journal of Biotechnology Vol. 6 (10), pp. 1175-1180, 16 May 2007   

ISSN 1684–5315 © 2007 Academic Journals        

Full Length Research Paper

Banana nectar as a medium for testing pollen viability and germination in Musa

Moses Nyine¹ and Michael Pillay*²

¹International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), P.O Box 7878, Kampala, Uganda.

²Vaal University of Technology Private Bag X 021 Vanderbijlpark 1900, South Africa

*Corresponding author. E-mail: m.pillay@yahoo.co.uk.

Former address: International Institute of Tropical Agriculture. P. O. 7878, Kampala, Uganda

Accepted 4 December, 2006

A quick and reliable method for evaluating pollen quality is essential in a breeding program, especially in a crop such as banana that is characterized by high male and female sterility. In this study the germination and viability of banana pollen was evaluated in a sucrose solution and diluted banana nectar. Twenty banana accessions were used to evaluate pollen germination in the two media after 3 and 24 h. Nineteen genotypes (95%) showed significantly higher pollen germination potential (PGP) in diluted nectar than in 3% sucrose solution. The accession TMB2x 8075 - 7 showed no significant pollen germination in nectar and sucrose. Eleven genotypes (55%) showed significant increase in pollen germination by increasing the time of incubation whereas pollen germination for nine genotypes (45%) was not affected by increase in incubation time. Nectar from different banana clones influenced pollen germination suggesting a genotype effect for pollen germination in Musa.  

Key words: Banana, pollen germination, sucrose solution, diluted nectar.