Biotechnology, Breeding and Seed Systems for African Crops
Seed Systems Research
Abstracts from the Biotechnology, Breeding and Seed Systems
Conference
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Evaluation
and dissemination of introduced banana germplasm: A preliminary
assessment of the planting material distribution system K.
Nowakunda, W.K. Tushemereirwe, P. Namanya, J.
Namaganda, C. Nankinga & P. Ragama The East African highland banana (Matooke), is an
important food and cash crop in Uganda. However, it is susceptible to
pests (weevils and nematodes) and diseases (black Sigatoka, bacterial
wilt and banana streak virus). Host
plant resistance has been identified as the most appropriate solution to
these problems and selection of resistant clones from introduced
germplasm adopted as one of reducing losses due to these constraints. Seven promising clones selected from foreign introductions
were evaluated in Uganda. The
farming communities tried the clones for various uses including cooking,
roasting, juice extraction and dessert bananas. Five clones were
selected on the basis of bunch size, cooking quality and juice
extraction ability. They noted that although the new bananas were not as
good in taste as the East African highland banana they were as good as
other starchy foods in their areas. The introduced bananas were
acclaimed for the advantages of being higher yielding than all the food
crops known to them. The selected clones are currently diffusing fast in
the areas. Performance of
the distribution system was assessed through a survey. Results indicated
that all the banana suckers are being efficiently utilized by either
passing them free or at a cost to other farmers and there is
overwhelming demand for suckers of KABANA 3H and KABANA 4H.
The evaluation sites and Kawanda serve as sources of planting
material for private operators who have expressed interest in
distributing the plants. Failure to access the planting material by the
poorest farmers in some areas where demand is extremely high and,
therefore most suckers distributed at a cost, was noted as a serious
weakness of the system to be addressed.
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