Bananas and Plantains

1995
ISBN: 978-94-010-4317-5
Verlag: Springer Netherlands

Buch, Englisch, 612 Seiten, Format (B × H): 155 mm x 235 mm, Gewicht: 955 g

Reihe: World Crop Series

In a field of mature bananas, plants can be seen at all stages of vegetative growth and fruit maturity, providing a fascination for anyone who has an interest in growing crops. Banana farmers in the tropics can harvest fruit every day of the year. The absence of seasonality in production is an advantage, in that it provides a continuity of carbohydrate to meet dietary needs as well as a regular source of income, a feature that perhaps has been under-estimated by rural planners and agricultural strategists. The burgeoning interest in bananas in the last 20 years results from the belated realization that Musa is an under-exploited genus, notwithstanding the fact that one genetically narrow group, the Cavendish cultivars, supply a major export commodity second only to citrus in terms of the world fruit trade. International research interest in the diversity of fruit types has been slow to develop, presumably because bananas and plantains have hitherto been regarded as a reliable backyardsource of dessert fruit or starch supplying the needs of the household, and in this situation relatively untroubled by pests, diseases or agronomic problems.

Zielgruppe

Research

Autoren/Hrsg.

Gowen, S.

Fachgebiete

• Naturwissenschaften Agrarwissenschaften Ackerbaukunde, Pflanzenbau Forstwirtschaft, Forstwissenschaft
• Technische Wissenschaften Verfahrenstechnik | Chemieingenieurwesen | Biotechnologie Lebensmitteltechnologie und Getränketechnologie
• Naturwissenschaften Biowissenschaften Biowissenschaften Ökologie
• Naturwissenschaften Biowissenschaften Botanik
• Naturwissenschaften Agrarwissenschaften Agrarwissenschaften

Inhaltsverzeichnis

1 The origin and development of banana and plantain cultivation.- 2 Systems of cultivation and management.- 3 Molecular markers, genetic diversity and systematic in Musa.- 4 Musa genetics.- 5 Banana and plantain breeding.- 6 In vitro culture of bananas.- 7.I Banana morphology — part I: roots and rhizomes.- 7.II Banana morphology — part II: the aerial shoot.- 8 The response of the plant to the environment.- 9 Soils.- 10 Banana nutrition.- 11 Banana diseases.- 12 Pests.- 13 Harvesting and fruit care.- 14 Ripening and biochemistry of the fruit.- 15 The nutritional value of bananas.- 16 Banana processing.- 17 Banana and plantain in the East African highlands.- 18 The world banana economy.